For me what helped learning characters was constant exposure to them. Especially compound words made of two characters. I learned Japanese so I'm not sure how similar Chinese words function but using a meaning guide to try to tie meaning into the compound word, and also repeatedly seeing it in the environment associated with things really helps build memories. Ultimately the way to remember something literally is to make as many meaningful memories with it as possible. If you have a local buisiness ran by a Chinese family maybe keep a look out for signs or products that have kanji you're studying. I had a really difficult time remembering 注意 until I went to japan and saw it written on every pole and sign warning about animals and people. Now I'll never forget it.

So mechanical repetition will work through brute force but it takes way less effort if you make each repetition more meaningful. Just mix em.