Just Keep Going?
Most of the time, if you are struggling to practice bhakti-yoga you will hear this advice: “Don’t give up, just keep going.”
There is some value in this, but also a flaw.
If a monkey is struggling to pull a banana out of a jar, we can praise the virtue of his tenacity, and that tenacity might even evoke the compassion of an onlooker — but tenacity itself doesn’t get the banana out of the jar.
In any endeavor, including bhakti-sādhana, brute-force is not as wise as efficiency.
We can try to sweat it out and keep trying to chant more (and more) “rounds” of mantras. But it would become easy to chant hundreds of rounds if we had strong attraction to Krishna. So where should the effort primarily go, to the number of rounds or to the quality of attraction to Krishna?
The distinction is not always so clear, because one of the ways to develop more attraction to Krishna is to chant his name more often. But it is really a question of focus. The focus should not be on upholding an externally measurable huge quota of sādhana. The focus should be on deepening our actual feelings of affection for Śrī Krishna.
This is why, next to chanting Krishna’s name, the most important of all sādhanas is to hear the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam from those who can relish its beauty. Exposing ourselves to the beauty of Krishna revealed by the realized speakers of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam will cause us to fall in love, really, with Krishna. Then, with relatively little effort, our chanting will become attentive, emotive, and copious!
So chant an amount that is a realistic challenge for your current level of realizing the beauty of Krishna, and simultaneously hear the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam every day from people who are clearly, deeply in love with Krishna and cannot stop discussing him.
"Marriage is for producing nice children, Krsna (God) conscious children. Because at the present moment the population is not being produced very nicely, therefore there is disturbance of peace all over the world. But if there are Krsna (God) conscious children, they'll grow up and they will possess all good qualities. So peace automatically will come if people become Krsna (God) conscious because they become highly qualified, without committing any sinful activities. If such population is there in the world, there is no question of disturbance." (Marriage Lecture 4-2-72) Read more › 
Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure is an amusement park in Moscow, named after Maxim Gorky.
"After searching through all the Vedic literature one cannot find a method of religion more sublime for this age than the chanting of Hare Krishna." Kali Santarana Upanisad 
Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. In the age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Krishna. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Krishna Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions. SB 11.5.32 
Jaya Srila Prabhupada! 
Indradyumna Swami: Mielno has a reputation of being a tough town especially during the summer when thousands of young men and women come to drink and party in the many bars and discos around town. But for 3 days this week our harinama party and festivals flooded Mielno with the nectar of the holy names. Both the gentle and the ruffians chanted and danced along with us in great ecstasy. All glories to Sri Krsna samkirtan! 
My dear King, although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom. SB 12.3.51 
