When you make your work, whatever it may be, in bite sized pieces, it is much easier, in my experience, to sustain the work, day in and day out. This seems much more important than bursts of work followed by inactivity because the prospect of returning to the work seems so daunting and uncomfortable and unmanageable.

Also, it's interesting how part of the process of becoming fluent in a language is getting a "feel" for it, as in you begin to be able to say or write something and tell whether it "feels" correct or not, based on massive input. In English, if I am unsure how to phrase or spell something, I can usually get it right simply by which option "feels right." And it doesn't take all the headwork that my previous experiences with language learning have had.