I wouldn't stress out over it. I'm sure just about everybody who has picked up a guitar has struggled with it including myself. I've been at it about a year and still don't always make a clean tone out of it, but like everything it will get better with time like Manxcat says. Don't let it hinder your progress with the lessons because you'll be using it many more times from here on out.

As far as breaking it down I'm not sure what you mean by that. There are some variations of the chord, but if your just starting out your probably not gonna enjoy them either. You could just fret the 2nd,3rd and 4th string without the first and that might suffice musically for a while. It's called an Fmaj7 and it could work in some song contexts, but don't give up trying to learn the proper F chord either. Just keep working at it slowly. Concentrate on getting proper finger placement to get a clean tone.

If your having more problems with learning chords you could ask the instructors directly. Lisa is very good at helping beginnners through this stage. This is really the best course of action then asking in the general forum although Christopher and Carl tend to lurk around the whole site so they might be able to help you as well. To access instructors individual sites go to the Forum home screen, then scroll to the bottom. You'll see the "Ask Instructors name" in that area. Also do a search on F chord and you'll be surpised how many questions there are on it. There might be some tips that someone already provided from way back that might give you what your looking for.

Good Luck,

Moe