I think it would be cool if we could choose the # of items we want to review per day.
For example :
80 tones, 80 characters, 80 definitions, 80 readings

Sometimes when I see a large # of items that are due for review, such as 250 or above, I just don't want to even go near it because I know that I probably won't finish it and I don't like starting things I can't finish.

A feature such as this would be very cool. I know that the Skritter guys are busy working on the app, so I'm sure this can't be made available soon, but it would be great to have a few months down the line

I agree. The goal mode will work something like this, although not broken down by part. It's on hold until the iOS app is done, though.

By the way, for an interesting explanation of why motivation goes down when expectancy of success goes down, check out this article:

http://lesswrong.com/lw/3w3/how_to_beat_procrastination/

Cool, awesome Nick !!

Also, thanks a lot for that article link. Super interesting and helpful

The best way I've found to drastically reduce the queue in a very short period of time (about minus 100 chars in about 10 minutes) it's to deactivate the writing section temporally and switch it on again Once all the tone/pinyin queue is done,

Interesting article, thanks Nick!

I had a list of 400+ to go through last night that I wasn't in the mood to sludge through.

So I set a mini-goal for myself. I'd skrit my way down to 300 and take a break. When I got to 300 I figured - I've made it this far, might as well go down to 250.

After I reached 250 I was a little tired, so I took a short break.

Then when I came back it was just 250 left, which didn't seem like too much to handle, so I just went ahead and finished it up.

Tortue and David Chung both had great tips, I do both of those things and it helps a lot.

At first I made it a point to just plow through them all first thing in the morning, but this is becoming less appealing as the reviews are regularly over 200, and with a higher number of writings (as the other bits I'm much more consistent with). I have a similar approach to David, although a bit more structured - I try to hit 20 minutes in the morning and as many in the evening, or longer if time permits. After a couple of days back log I'm pretty consistently getting to zero reviews each session now (as the reviews are more dispersed also).