If it's something that piques my interest, I'll actually go to great lengths to spend a sizable amount of time studying, but there are times when I run into things that I just cannot stand. Math, for instance, is something that I've always really hated studying, so it's usually the one thing I tackle first whenever I feel I have to study it (not in school at the moment, but I do make myself study when I can :D; ) and that's really the only subject I dislike studying, anything else can generally hold my interest.
I'm not sure what I would consider playing, but I really have no interest in video games and other things a lot of my friends seem to love, so I'd rather take time to read or write, or just mess around in Photoshop, but I've always considered those things not to be totally playing since it generally improves one skill or another.