We get frustrated by things big and small throughout the day. For most of us, we shrug it off and move on. But for the inventor, each frustration, each inconvenience, is an opportunity.

I love taking my dogs on hikes. One of the common frustrations is that my dog will play around in a bush then come running back with small seeds stuck to his fur. Each one of these seeds has to be pulled out by hand.
This problem is the same one that lead to the invention of velcro in the 1950’s. In 1941, a Swiss electrical engineer named George de Mestral was frustrated that you had to keep picking burdock seeds off his dog. The constant frustration made him curious and he eventually put one of the seeds under a microscope. He wanted to know how it was able to stick to his dogs fur so well.

Under the microscope, he noticed that the seeds had tiny hooks on them. The hooks would latch onto an animal’s fur, which allowed the plants to spread their seeds much further than would have been possible. This just goes to show that nature can be every bit as creative as people.

What makes the invention of velcro fascinating is not simply the humble origins of the idea. Observing the hooks under a microscope was just a small step on a much longer path.

De Mestral understood early on that his idea was potentially lucrative, but it took him years to solve all the manufacturing issues. You can imagine how difficult it’d be if your product required making a tiny strip of cloth with thousands of tiny hooks. In 1951, he submitted his patent, which was accepted in 1955. After that, he took out a $150,000 loan to start his business. He called the new invention “velcro” because it was a combination of the world “velvet” and “crochet,” which means “hook” in French.

De Mestral is a great example of what can happen when you stay curious about the world around you. Frustration is a sign that something is wrong, but seen from a different point-of-view, it’s also a sign that things could be better. So stop trying to push past your frustrations. Frustrations aren’t opportunities to double-down and fight harder. Creativity is not about overpowering obstacles. So use your next frustration as an opportunity to stop and think. A little curiosity can go a long way.

Enjoyed the article? Subscribe to the Kaizen Creativity Podcast to get creative inspiration throughout your week.