I lost 96% of my creativity. So did you.

Last weekend, a near disaster turned into something amazing.

On Mother’s Day, my husband (who is not a morning person) woke up early to make breakfast for the girls and me. He set the oven to pre-heat, not knowing I had placed a non-oven safe bowl of sourdough in there the night before to rise.

By the time I realized what was happening, the oven was already to 350°. I scrambled to pull it out. Miraculously, the bowl was intact (phew!). But I was a little worried the dough might not produce its typical loaf-making magic.

You see, I’m a rule follower and a 350° dough preheat was not in the rules.

When my dear friend Nicole gifted me with a sourdough starter last year, she also taught me her bread-making method. What you need to know about Nicole is that she has the most beautifully relaxed nature that makes everyone around her feel at ease. She comfortably walked me through the process; then I took her relaxed guidelines and turned them into strict, step-by-step instructions. I’ve diligently followed them ever since and made dozens and dozens of delicious loaves.

All this to say I was convinced the dough would not work that Mother’s Day morning due to noncompliance.

But guess what – the accidental new process made the most delicious, fluffiest loaf we’ve ever tasted.

Did you know that our adult minds are terrible at considering alternative approaches? Our brains favor what we already know and subconsciously block new ideas or methods. What a shame.

Children’s brains, on the other hand, are much better at imagining and exploring new, creative ideas. In his TEDx talk, Dr. George Land shared shocking results from a creativity test he helped develop for NASA to measure “creative potential”—the ability to come up with new, different, and innovative ideas to problems.

In this longitudinal study, Dr. Land’s research team found that of 1,600 4- and 5-year-olds, 98 percent scored at "creative genius" level. Five years later, only 30 percent of the same group of children scored at the same level. Then again, five years later at 15-years-old, only 12 percent. When the same test was administered to adults, only two percent scored at genius level.

This study confirms that I am 96% less creative than I was as a child and am missing out on so much opportunity as a result. And unless you’re in the genius two percent, you are too.

Since we can’t revert to our 5-year-old brains, one of the best ways to boost our “creative potential” is to tap into other brains:

• What ideas do our team members have to offer?

• What can we learn from our customer’s experience?

• What thoughts might another department share?

• What does your neighbor with a different life experience think?

• Heck, why not schedule a brainstorming session with your kiddo or niece—the child genius herself?

Remember that your brain will naturally attempt to reject different perspectives. It feels safer and easier to stick with what we know. But alas, if we stick with safe and easy, we’ll never experience the most delicious, fluffiest sourdough loaves out there, just waiting to be discovered.