Fitness swimming - drill query

Hi all, I am little more than a beginner having had a few lessons down through the years but I never got much opportunity to practice so I never improved past the beginner stage . I would love to be able to swim more than a handful of laps so I joined a gym a couple of months ago with a pool . I have been making very slow progress so I decided to purchase the Fitness Swimming book & I am trying out the drills from the green section . My question relates to the very first drill in the book..... the front float. I thought this drill would be a piece of cake but when I initially tried the drill I couldnt get any propulsion from my kick at all ! After a bit of practice I can get about half of the way across the pool kicking hard . According to the book you should be able to do this drill kicking easy & with a perceived effort of 60-70% . I realize most of the people on this board are very proficient swimmers (amazingly so from where I'm standing) but has anyone else tried this drill & found it difficult ? If so what length of time did it take before you were able to cross the pool using this drill ? I can do the backfloat & sidefloat drills fine but I cant complete the first set of drills unless I can do the front float :mad: I know the book mentions if you have a poor kick you can use fins but I'm afraid if I go down that road I'll get lazy & never try the drills without the fins ! If I just keep trying the drill day after day should I get there eventually ? Thanks in advance for any suggestions / encouragement.