Flashcards work for a while then stop. Why

Isolated words decay because nothing retrieves them. Cards with a sentence you actually encountered survive, because the context provides the hook. The rule of thumb is to add nothing you have not met in the wild.

Yes: do the first step, skip the automation, and revisit in a month. Most of the value is in the first step, and most of the cost is in making it repeatable before you know it is right.