January is that time of year when, present company excluded, resolutions often get made. It’s also a period when gym owners around the country rub their hands in glee at the inevitable influx of hefty aspirationals looking to try and shift a few mince pies before their summer hols.

To be fair, most of us have, at some point in our lives, joined a gym with the noblest of intentions. We’ve all conjured up a mental image of a fitter, lycra-clad future version of ourselves. And we even imagine doing unnatural things like jogging or voluntarily eating vegetables.

And yet joining the gym doesn’t, in itself, make anyone thin, fit or healthy. Paying the first subscription and getting a guided tour of the premises may make you feel virtuous, but no pounds have thus far been shifted, other than from your bank account. A somewhat overweight friend of mine has even been a gym member for about two decades, and so far has only ever used the café.

Here’s the thing. The simplicity lies in the method, not in the execution. Getting up early when it’s cold and dark is hard. Going after work when the sofa and a cheeky Rioja are calling is hard. Choosing salad when a bar of chocolate is offering emotional support is hard. Most of us know exactly what we should do. But knowing and doing unfortunately occupy very different universes.

Interestingly, property development occupies that very same space. Somehow, it has a curious way of confusing people before they’ve even started. I often hear people question how development can be both simple and hard. Which, on face value, sounds fair enough. After all, in most areas of our lives, we’re conditioned to believe that ‘simple’ equates to easy and ‘hard’ must automatically mean complicated. And when those two ideas sit side by side, they can feel as though they’re cancelling each other out. And yet, when you look closely, many of life’s more worthwhile things seem to live precisely there.

At its core, property development is remarkably straightforward. You buy a property at a sensible price, add value in some form, and then either sell it or refinance and keep it. That’s the model in its purest form. It’s been around for generations, and it hasn’t changed over time because it doesn’t need to. Create value at the point of purchase, enhance the asset through conversion or improvement, and exit in a way that releases that value. There’s nothing especially technical about that principle, and certainly nothing mystical. Basically, it’s a value creation business wrapped in bricks and mortar.