“Millions saw the apple fall but Newton was the one who asked why.”
-Bernard Baruch
Every once in a while a product hits the market that is so simple that thousands of people say “why didn’t I think of that?” Examples include the Snuggie ($200m+ in sales), the frisbee (half a billion sold a year), and even the Pet Rock sold over a million units.
It appears simple once you know the solution to a problem, but the innovative thinking needed to see an issue or opportunity that others don’t and simultaneously have the disparate data points to create an answer is a fairly unique combination. Partially because it takes deep knowledge and commitment to do something.
Others saw the apple fall and just accepted the common wisdom that it was God’s will. Maybe 1% actually questioned why. Of this 1%, only a small fraction of a percent invested time to think about it and look deeper than a passing glance. Of this small fraction, only a tiny sliver had the discipline to systematically look at the problem or the mathematical reasoning to explore it. So of all the billions of people that had observed apples (or other fruits) and the moon, only a handful actually dedicated themselves in understanding the nature of the world around them and as such could be in a position to make the connection that the same force pulling the apple to the ground also pulled at the moon.
Newton was not the only one to ask why the apple fell, but he was the first one to ask the question over and over and think long and hard enough about it to see the connection that is now obvious in hindsight. Stay with the problem long enough to get the inspiration that then makes everyone else smack their head and say “of course!” and “why didn’t I see that?”.