I tried Vipassana on my own while I was a student (it was much easier to get stretches of peaceful time). I read the instructions from a book and managed to get into a different state of mind in about 45 minutes or so.

Is there really some point in sitting and trying it all day long? I mean, if you cannot "get" it within an hour, aren't you doing something wrong? Or it takes different length of time for different people?

What was your experience? How long it took you to get into the other "state"? Were you able to get into it much faster afterwards?