is it just me?

It is the fact that you have to study regularly. Eventually it becomes ingrained but studying for a day will not do it.

Study/play/study/play. 

Repeat ad inifinitum.

GMs study thousands of hours. 

ok. I've seen some masters say to study everyday, and some day every other day is better. your opinion?

I think every day is better. Smaller chunks more frequently. 

I am beginning to study and play everyday, study for about an hour and play one or two 25+10 games (elsewhere, not here) then review those games. I am finding I am playing better and noticing more things on a more consistent basis.

Chess isn't about retaining info - it's about performance. 

Chess improvement happens dramatically and occasionally. Basically, you'll have stretches where you seem to be at the same level, and some days you perform better than others (the difference can be quite big). 

But when you make a leap of improvement, your whole skill level jumps up.

What you're describing is totally normal. Chess improvement is not for people who want something stable and solid. 

No one pattern fits everyone perfectly.  Perhaps spending the second day on games rather than study works better - especially if you play long time-limit games.'

Pre-game warm ups for chess is also a good idea and has been a topic here in the past:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/quotwarm-up-routinesquot-before-starting-a-game

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/best-way-to-warm-up-before-playing

Personally, I've thought of adapting warm-up techniques from music and sports to create a "chess warm up routine" for me that will address thinking techniques. If it helps, I'll post what I do here after I get it worked out.

In sports we know that stretching, throwing/kicking/catching etc. in pre-game warmups improves performane.

I've recently watched music documentaries on The Eagles and the great Australian group, The Seekers - the only major 1960's group still performing with the original members - and noted that harmonies are so important that they practice(d) voice for an hour before EACH concert.  Before I play Chopin or Mozart or Beethoven - and especially Bach - on piano at a recital, I want access to a small studio somewhere so I can warm up for at least half an hour, even if I do nothing but play scales and a few complicated passages.  When I'm backstage and 10 minutes or less from going out on stage to perform, I've been trained by the pros to let my arms hang loosely at my sides and then to shake and twist my hands to the point where I can feel it in my shoulders - all to keep my body both ready for activity and relaxed.  ONLY after all that am I confident that I'm ready to play well.

But what do we do to mentally warm up for chess?  Most of us do nothing.  I blunder so much with short time limits a routine that would help, even if it's just to remind to the use a certain thought process, could have a major effect on short games.

Sorry, but this is totally wrong.

If chess improvement (and by extension, better performance) is not about retaining info then how would you ever stop falling for:

You stop falling for it by retaining the info that when white plays (1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6) 3. Qh5 you play either g3 (best) driving the Q away or Qe7 (Qf6) defending f7 and giving the K a flight square.

Or how do you know what to do here:

How do you know that the best move is Qd5+, winning back the B and leaving black floundering? By playing and studying and retaining the information.

Retaining the info comes with study and practice.

(I can agree with your other points.)

Hey Mick, I warm up with tactics problems. I do about 20-30 before a game.

Here is a game I played last Thursday evening. Didn't play perfect but the tactics "woke" my brain up.

What I meant is that most chess info is totally useless to retain. About 1% of chess info I've heard, or less, I actually use in my games. So while you need to retain some, it's not the main important thing, or even close. And if you're not a GM/IM, memorizing openings, then the retaining is easy, because there's little info you need to retain. 

So I'd say performance is about using the information you retain. Obviously you have to retain *some* info in chess, but it's not the main idea - if you retain little info, but can use your information well, then you'll be much better than the other way around.

To show this, it's why little kids can become GMs while adults studying 20 years can't break 1600 or something. 

Actually, the reason kids can become so strong while adults struggle is exactly because of their ability to retain what they learn. Their minds are like sponges while adults have already started to lose the ability to retain things.. Plenty of research (both outside of chess and inside the chess world) has proven this,

You think you only use about 1% of what you have heard but I would bet it is higher. Some of it is just sitting there and pops out when you see a position on the board.

Very true. Synapses (within neurons, the brain cells) are growing fastest during early childhood, which makes early experiences very influential on children. Therefore if you add in chess as part of their childhood experience, they can learn chess much faster than an adult. My mother used to say with typically faulty logic, "If kids can learn a foreign language in a few years, why can't I?" Sorry mom, but there is actually a good reason why not: biology. It's difficult to fight against one's own biology.

 "My mother used to say with typically faulty logic, "If kids can learn a foreign language in a few years, why can't I?" Sorry mom, but there is actually a good reason why not: biology. It's difficult to fight against one's own biology."

Bruce Jenner made news and magazine covers fighting his own biology.  (Of course, that's not your point, but that's what I thought of when I read your sentence.)

thanks for the advice guys