When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex and most people stop there. But if you keep going and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don't put in the time or energy to get there. 
It's a lot of hard work and it's a lot of worrying constantly and if you don't love it, you are going to fail. So you have got to love it and you have got to have passion and I think that's the high-order bit. 