Memorizing full basic strategy, weekend project or lifetime of glancing at the chart?

I keep the pair rules straight by starting with tens together and aces split. Those are easy to remember, and give me a couple of fixed points when i'm sorting out the other pairs.

I tried cramming it all at once and it didn’t stick. Now I do ten minutes a day: cover the chart, call the play, check the misses (soft totals and splits were the slow ones). After a couple weeks I was stopping less to think.

I tried to cram the full chart one weekend. I could recite it at home, then still hesitate over soft totals at the table.

It got clearer when I thought about what the dealer’s upcard called for.

Weekend won't stick. Chart forever, who cares.

Splitting it up worked better for me. I kept getting soft 18 and the pair splits muddled, so I drilled those separately for a few days, then started running random hands with no chart. I’d say the play out loud while making tea, sometimes caught myself getting the same one wrong twice. Cramming the full chart in a weekend would probably leave it familiar, not automatic. Mixed hands without looking is the bit that finally made it stick.