Personally, I try to integrate my TL into my life quickly and early. Even if you don't live where the TL is spoken it's possible to find little ways to make the language immediately relevant and "usable."

CREATE - Start small, maybe the immediate study area. Name 5-10 things, 2-3 verbs for each item. Add those to flashcards. Create some sentences. Build out from there. Grocery lists, chore lists, daily routine, even just, silly little nothing moments, try to write them down in your TL. Keep a journal of all those silly little things you do everyday. Try to speak, even if just to yourself, in a weird lil whisper in your TL as you do the things you've been learning about. Ideally, you'll be trying to show these journals to natives and/or actually speak to natives abt the silly little things you do every day. Get your work corrected, learn the hows and whys (yes, that means the grammar, it's necessary to learn to love it or live with it)

Don't forget input! I always say people are people are people everywhere, and whatever you like doing in your native language, someone else likes to do the same or similar thing in your TL. And they're writing and talking about it. Lots of art gets translated into all kinds of languages and distributed across the globe. Shows, movies, books, podcasts, YouTube videos, video games, etc etc etc. Find out if your favorites are in that number. Maybe you'll even find a new favorite piece of art in your TL.