I'll try to keep it short. I don't set a schedule, because comparing yourself to an unrealistic timetable can be a prescription for disappointment. Reality can be a real... well, you know how it goes.

1. Knock out kana (RTKana)
2. Knock out RTK, try the movie method at the same time to knock out readings. if it doesn't work, it's no biggie, but if you're coming up with stories, might as well.
3. Knock out both Genkis or Minna no Nihongo. Get the answer guide to get more example sentences.
4. Knock out KO2001. (Yes, after doing grammar. It's not like it takes that long to get the grammar down. A couple of months, maybe. Long haul, baby. Long haul.)
5. Grab an intermediate Japanese book, like An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese, and knock it out. (There are probably others out there, too.)
6. drill books, drill books, drill books... and other targets of opportunity.

All of that stuff goes into Anki. Production and recognition for kanji; cloze deletion for grammar if it works with the sentence.

Also, while doing KO2001, I don't just add stuff from that, I also add stuff from Yahoo and other dictionaries to supplement what I'm seeing in it to cover lots of other random words I come across.

Grab an iPhone. Cram it full of JP audio. It's not hard to do. Podcasts, dramas, whatever floats your boat. Anki over the web with the keitai interface wins, too. And lots and lots of Mahjong Police. (lol.)  Now you have Japanese wherever you go. No excuses.

Keyhole TV. Get it. Watch it. It's free.

Reading: Buy manga you like. Start with easy stuff, work up to harder stuff. STOP buying English-translated manga. Buy Japanese manga that isn't translated. (Support those artists!) It's cheap, too... much cheaper than translated stuff. Once you reach a certain point, you can start reading kids novels, then you can start working up to light novels.

I make rules, and stick to them. It's easier than a schedule. My rules are simple ones, like, "Pleasure reading must be in Japanese, and can't be translated into English." "No subs for anything I watch in Japanese, unless I've already watched it at least once without subs."

I find that if I'm frustrated because I can't understand what I'm reading, that serves as better motivation to study than any schedule.

My plan:

1. RTK
2. drill hiragana & katakana
3. Tae Kim
4. All About Particles
5. core2000
<< after this is done, I'll buy/download some manga & integrate it into my studies >>
6. core6000
<< see above, but with children's books & light novels >>
7. Kodansha's Dictionary of Basic Japanese Idioms
<< by this stage I'll have ~10,000 sentences so I'll focus on improving grammar >>
8. A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar perhaps...
9. A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar...

Ok so maybe I haven't planned this far ahead...

Here's my plan:

1.RTK
2.Sentence-mining from Real World (literature, manga, T.V. series with their script, Japanese movies with Japanese subtitles, everything)
3.Japanese fluency.

Here's my ideal Plan:

Stage 1 (get down their writing system):

-- Learn Hiraganan and Katakana. Work on recognition and production by practicing them with fun words like colors, animals, foods...
-- RTK1. 30 - 50 per day.
-- Listen to podcasts, music, and animes/movies I have already watched in English.

Stage 2 (Basics of grammar and vocab):

-- Tae Kim's basic and essential grammar.
-- Mine sentences and put into Anki. Review sentences and 15 new each day.
-- Use iKnow to study basic words, and their Dictation to recognize speech better.
-- In addition to Stage 1 listening, watch random Japanese anime's/shows on youtube and try to get a grasp of what's going on.

Stage 3 (Building Up):

-- The rest of Tae Kim.
-- Continue mining and reviewing in Anki.
-- Switch to a Japanese-Japanese Dictionary.
-- Read raw mangas, and short stories. Unlicensed mangas can be easily found online at sites like http://crazytje.be/ . Work up to a novel, possibly one that was translated from an English novel I already read.
-- Play some video games/online games in Jap.
-- Subscribe to some Japanese blogs, make some friends on Japanese online communities.
-- Listen/Watch anything possible in Japanese, news, sports games, stand up comedies, work out videos, dancing tutorials, poetry...

That's it.

Yeah, I should have been more specific-- that iPhone full of JP podcasts and such, and the use of something like Keyhole TV happens from the very start. You have to listen to as much of the language as possible to get your brain used to hearing it, and to get it used to the idea that "Hey, this is important!"

I have a lot of the older Japanesepod101.com podcasts... up to a certain point, anyway. The survival lessons are handy for total newbies going to Japan for the first time. (Especially stuff on Trains, Taxis, Buses, and Hotels. Buses can be especially confusing in Japan the first time you use them.) The beginner stuff has way too much English in it for my taste, but the intermediate stuff has a lot of Japanese in it, and it's amusing. It's something to listen to while working out. Do the free trial and see if you like it. If not, move on.

I haven't tried Shadowing yet. I have the book sitting on my desk, but I haven't had time to put it into practice yet.

I went ahead and dropped $25/month for TV-Japan. It's cheesy and overpriced, but it's NHK, beamed straight into my house in the US. It keeps me honest, TV-wise, and there's the random factor, too. The randomness helps you keep on your linguistic toes. And some really interesting programs, too.

Naturally, if you can afford to go to Japan for a year, I'd recommend that, too. When I went over there (wasn't for a year, just 5 weeks), I had just started reviving my Japanese from the dead, so it wasn't too strong. It was strong enough to get around and make chit-chat, and find out where the toilet was, but knowing what I know now, I might have waited until it was a little stronger before going. I would have probably had a lot more fun that way. (There's nothing like the culture shock, though! Wow, that was something at first. Fun stuff. 懐かしい...)

I wouldn't necessarily wait for a certain point to start trying to read manga. If there's one you already follow, buy a tankubon and try to read it anyway. Feel the frustration of not being able to. Let it motivate you. Then you can check your ability to read it as a measuring stick of your progress.

And yeah, I like textbooks as sources mostly because they provide a nice progression of stuff to learn, but I primarily just use them as mining resources. The sentences are dull, but useful. I like Genki primarily because it's really easy to mine with a flatbed scanner and OCR software like the IRIS stuff. (Which is overpriced, but useful.)