Looking to learn something difficult? Shorter study sessions more often. Several short sessions per day.
Taking breaks for the win!
In order for this to work, you need to also get over the fear and hesitation associated with the thing. When I started learning finger picking nylon guitar, I couldn’t get the timing right and my fingers were cramping and it sounded so awful but because I knew I was allowed to put the guitar down at any time I never feared picking it up. I kept longing to pick it up. And I got it, not at a professional level but at a joy level, much faster than I ever could’ve dreamed of.
I’ve always been one to lean heavily into dreams, intuition, emotion, whims, feels etc. I need to trust the deep unlit ocean part of my head to help me, and not just rely on the flashlight I’m juggling up ahead. Breaks help with that. They help me let go and let things slowly fall into place (or whatever the heck’s going on in there).