make hard work of

verb2

1. •
   To do (something) in a way that makes it more difficult than it needs to be.

   • The motion is from the shoulder rather than from the elbow, moving the whole arm, and there is no need to make hard work of it. — 1895
2. •
   To struggle to accomplish something.

   • For arithmetic to-day, as the pupils made hard work of the examples yesterday, I changed only the numbers. — 1891