I'm a big fan of spaced repetition systems. I recommend them strongly but would also like to offer some advice against common failure modes:
* Adding too much. Either from pre-made decks or just making cards for absolutely everything.
* Adding things you haven't learnt yet. SRS works best when you basically know something and want to still know it in 6 months time. Make cards at the end of a math study session when you have completed multiple problems. Don't make cards when you first encounter a piece of information.
* Treating SRS as a goal in and of itself. I see this in language learning a lot. "If I just memorise these 6000 words I will be fluent in this language". If you want to learn baseball you can't just swing the bat all day, you're gonna have to play some baseball games.
This is great advice. I've used Anki to memorize technical knowledge (not language) for ~10 years. Here are some additional points with some overlap:
* Keep trying. If you're having a bad time with it it's because you haven't figured out how to use it well. SRS must be useful for at least some of your knowledge. Don't add too much and get overwhelmed. Add fewer cards and try to figure out what makes a good card vs bad.
* Stop adding cards if you get overwhelmed. Do all your reviews for a while and the daily number will reduce to something more manageable. Let the magic of SRS work itself out. You get the real benefit when it starts spacing things in years.
* Start slow. Develop your skill of making good cards by making a few and observing your mistakes then ramp it up as you gain confidence.
* Delete or fix bad cards aggressively. Flag them if you can't fix them immediately.
* Use cloze deletion. This is like "[Paris] is the capital of [France]" and you get two cards where one or the other is blanked out. Much easier to create cards this way. Be careful not to make too many.
* Use image occlusion. It's like cloze deletion for pictures. Really excellent for visual stuff.
* Adding too much. Either from pre-made decks or just making cards for absolutely everything.
* Adding things you haven't learnt yet. SRS works best when you basically know something and want to still know it in 6 months time. Make cards at the end of a math study session when you have completed multiple problems. Don't make cards when you first encounter a piece of information.
* Treating SRS as a goal in and of itself. I see this in language learning a lot. "If I just memorise these 6000 words I will be fluent in this language". If you want to learn baseball you can't just swing the bat all day, you're gonna have to play some baseball games.