🧩 How do you keep up daily DSA practice without burning out?

I started DSA practice 4 months ago for interviews. One problem a day, every day, on a practice site. The first month was good. When a solution clicked after a long struggle I felt great. Somewhere in month 3 it turned into a grind. I stopped learning and started matching patterns. I'd see a problem, remember the trick from a similar one, type it out, and move on. Now I've noticed my memory is slipping. A problem type from 3 weeks ago feels brand new. Last Tuesday I stared at a sliding window question for 40 minutes. I had solved one before. I tried doing problems in topic blocks instead of the random daily one the site suggests. It helped my memory a little but it feels slower, and I can't see daily progress anymore. A senior developer I know said understanding matters more than the number of problems solved. He said to redo the same problem after a week and work out the answer from scratch. No remembering the trick. That builds deeper understanding, he said, but each problem takes much longer this way. I believe him. I just don't know how to fit that into my day. My real fear is burning out before the interviews even start. Then all this practice is wasted. I don't want a big count of solved problems with nothing stored in my head. For people who did a long DSA phase, how did you pace it? Daily, every other day? What kept you from quitting halfway? I'd like to hear the boring routine, not the motivation talk.

I hit the same wall around month 3 and almost quit. What helped was a notebook, not a site. After each problem I wrote 2 lines in my own words about why the answer worked. Then on weekends I only reread the notebook and redid the ones I couldn't explain. It was slow, but I stopped feeling like I was wasting every evening.

Hit the exact same wall around month two of daily problems, started recognizing patterns without understanding why they worked. Switched to doing three problems a week instead of one a day but reviewing each one properly, writing out the logic in plain words before touching code. Slower on paper, but the retention difference was noticeable within a few weeks. Burnout crept back in around interview time regardless, so pacing alone did not fully solve it.