I created cards as I was learning the topic. And I was doing it daily or twice daily.
I certainly wanted it to work, when I first learned about it I thought it was the answer. But I seemed to get worse and more stressed out because I wasn't learning anything.
I'm not too fussed about it not working for me. I don't think there is a one size style of learning.
This has been my experience as well (especially with Anki), though I've always felt like my ability to memorize information to be poor in general. In my experience, I find it easier to memorize things rather through brute force/frequent repetition. To use memorizing foreign language vocabulary as an example; repeating words to myself, listening, or writing them out for 30-60 minutes everyday or every few days (as opposed to spreading out fewer terms over, say, two weeks). The conjecture I have is that my brain commits to memory more heavily based on frequency/intensity during short intervals of time rather than long intervals of time, but it's just a guess.
Not sure if I'm just an outlier, but I think you're right that many learning heuristics aren't one-size-fits-all. Hope you can find something that's effective (and enjoyable) for you. :)
I certainly wanted it to work, when I first learned about it I thought it was the answer. But I seemed to get worse and more stressed out because I wasn't learning anything.
I'm not too fussed about it not working for me. I don't think there is a one size style of learning.