The thing that (finally) worked for me was to pick a language that I wasn't using at work (C in this case), and do a project in it using exclusively vim.
Once I learned the basics, I only use vim itself for commits and small scripts, but this made using vim /modes/ in spacemacs and VSCode practical.
Without the basic vocabulary it just feels like turning on 'cripple mode' while you're trying to get work done.
I'm still not an expert; I heavily reuse the same ~15 commands. I've found learning that vocabulary to be very much worthwhile.
Once I learned the basics, I only use vim itself for commits and small scripts, but this made using vim /modes/ in spacemacs and VSCode practical.
Without the basic vocabulary it just feels like turning on 'cripple mode' while you're trying to get work done.
I'm still not an expert; I heavily reuse the same ~15 commands. I've found learning that vocabulary to be very much worthwhile.