I often hear two ideas about learning piano. The first: it is slow and hard work, there are no shortcuts, grit your teeth. The second: the old way is slow, but this new method brings results in one hour. Both are wrong, and wrong in ways that reinforce each other.
Learning an instrument is slow. But slow does not have to mean painful. The first idea builds on the "no pain no gain" mindset. In reality it should be "with pain no gain". If you are bored when practicing, that is a sign you are doing something wrong. Practicing should be effort but not boring. Effort directed at an interesting problem is one of the most satisfying things there is. Learning piano takes real effort, but it should be the kind that pulls you in, not the kind you have to push through.
The second idea makes a different mistake. It smuggles in a productivity mindset: minimize the time, find the shortcut, get to the result faster. I am all for productivity when a machine does something boring and repetitive on my behalf. But when it comes to something I actually want to do, the productivity mindset becomes a problem. It takes me out of the present moment and into a worry about speed.
Kevin Kelly offers a useful reframe: instead of asking what you want to minimize your time on, ask what you want to maximize time on. If you are doing the thing you want to do, you can give yourself the permission of relaxing into it. Stop thinking about going faster. Focus on the subject matter.
I still remember the first time I experienced the fun of practicing in the moment. A piano teacher showed me how to break a difficult passage into very short sections. Play four notes, then a pause, then the next four. The pressure of the whole piece disappeared in a second. It was no longer this enormous thing I had to conquer. It was just these four notes. And then the next ones. That shift from the weight of the whole to the simplicity of the part made practicing one of my favourite activities in life. It still is.
Going slow and taking small steps makes the whole thing enjoyable. And when it is enjoyable, it is fine that it takes time.