Five years of Anki

A little over two years ago I hit a streak of 1,000 days in a row of reviewing some flashcards in Anki. Most days I studied a few hundred cards, but all you need to review is one card to continue the streak and there were a few days with low numbers.

I first started using Anki near the end of 2015, but I was a little hit-or-miss for a few years. I probably hit 90% of the days in 2016 and 2017, but never built up any good streaks. On June 5, 2018 I didn’t study any cards, and the 173 that I studied the next day started a streak that is still going strong.

As I’ve said before, I admittedly go a little overboard and that’s helped lead to the streak. It’s a decent amount of work each day, but if I miss any cards it adds even more to the next day and leads to a few longer days. I try to be nice to “future Mickey” by keeping up every day.

As I get decks under control (thanks to the spaced repetition algorithm, you study fewer cards the better you know them) I add new ones from time to time.

Recent additions include:

• A list of all US pro sports teams, including cities, name, and mascot. I knew almost all of these anyhow, but it’s been a good way to solidify new names like the Cleveland Guardians and the Washington Commanders.
• Similarly, a list of all major college mascots in the US (352 of them). It’s easy for me to remember that Georgia is the “Bulldogs”, but less easy to remember that Alabama A&M is also the “Bulldogs” (much less than Campbell is the…