It depends. One of the other responders is making a fine distinction between knowing aspects (syntax) of Python vs. writing a program in Python. This is analogous to the distinction of learning French grammar and vocabulary and writing a short story in French. The grammar and vocabulary tell you how the language works and what words are used. The story writing requires some thought about characters and plot. Yes, word choice also matters, but they are in service of the story.

When you're asking "Is it hard to learn Python?", it implies (whether you realize it or not) "Is it hard to write a program in Python?" which includes learning how the Python language works.

Most people say it's easy to learn a language's syntax, but it's not THAT easy. An experienced programmer is likely to think "programming is if-else, loops, functions, arrays...how hard can that be?". But many people, for example, find it hard to understand pointers in C (or arrays, for that matter). I've heard people that just don't get arrays (mostly, I've learned, because they don't know why they would use it).

But I've both taught and seen frustrated posters that do find learning programming syntax to be hard.

Python's syntax is easier than most (it lacks the kinds of pointer syntax C has) so it's often recommended.

There's a book out there called "Automate the Boring Stuff", and you can even find it free on the Internet (search for it) as a bunch of webpages.

The book spends the first ten chapters (roughly) introducing Python, and the remainder showing different tasks that can be automated.

I would suggest doing the following search mooc python. This should send you to a website hosted in Finland for a free Python course. It will resemble a real college course, because it is, but you can go at your own pace. There are no quizzes and exams that you need to take, and no grades given. Those are only for the real students taking the course. And, no, you won't earn college credit (which costs money).

Still, it's a good place to learn the basics of Python programming. Once you can write basic programs, you can then move to automation. Of course, you can do both (take the MOOC and read "Automate the Boring Stuff"). It doesn't hurt to have a few resources while learning to program.

It can help to write down what you want to automate in words, rather than think it in your head. By writing it down, you can then figure out what you need to learn to automate what you need.

And it kinda depends on what you plan to automate. Some stuff might be harder to automate (e.g., go through my email, and summarize the key emails that I should pay attention to). Things like doing some task with an Excel spreadsheet is more do-able.

That's always the hard part for those new to programming. It's hard to tell what's easy to do and what's hard, and initially, everything is hard. So, even if learning aspects of Python may not be so bad, doing certain kinds of things with Python will be challenging.

For example, if you wanted to have a program to drive a car using a camera and other sensors, that would be a difficult to program in Python. It's not that Python is hard, it's knowing how to detect cars, to navigate, to know where you are, etc. All of that is hard, and most working programmers have no clue how to do that.