In step 2 I was just making progress when I felt like studying, so many days might pass between reading about some new concept and then needing to apply it. By that time I might have already forgotten some, and progress felt so slow that it wasn't very motivating to come back to it.

Doing it every day on the other hand, I would quickly need the thing I just learned, both reinforcing the learning and making it easier to apply it. Then as progress was much faster, it was more motivating as I could see myself making gradual progress each day, such that completing each course seemed like a doable undertaking.