[chipsy]

Like with everything, it depends. The way you use time is key to pretty much everything. The right hurdles to go for, for learning, are always the ones where you are outside of your comfort zone and you have to struggle for some number of hours, days, etc. to pick up the concept.

But the other half of that is to have a well-rounded life that will keep you on track. If everything feels like homework, you're stressed or unhealthy, etc., it'll be hard to summon the energy to really struggle with a hard problem. Try slicing up your year into the fractions of time you'd expect to spend working on anything. When you budget it this way instead of making a rigid schedule, you spot opportunities to break away from everything else and spend a week or so just trying to do one thing.