Want to enhance your creativity? Remember your childhood.

Psychology research out of North Dakota State University suggests remembering what life was like as a child can enhance adults' creativity. Graduate student, Darya Zabelina and colleagues asked 76 students to write either about their typical day as a 7-year-old or as an adult. After a few minutes, students then took the Torrance test, which scores the originality of pictures people make out of shapes and scribbles. Those students who imagined life as a 7-year-old scored significantly higher than those who thought about their current lives. I'm excited to try this simple technique with my creative team or maybe I'll just do it today and impress everyone with my out of the box thinking.

Its summer. I wake up to a combination of a hot Iowa sun coming through the window, toasting me like the poptart that I'll most likely grab on the way out the door and a welsh corgi who's canine smeller must have caught wind of a waking playmate and has come pounding up the steps. If I didn't know better, I'd think I lived 3 stories up based on the prolonged thunder of the short-legged pooch. I walk past my sister's room to see if she is up yet, but she's still under her covers because her room is on west side. Everyone knows the west side bedroom sleepers sleep in later. I make my way to the bathroom. Nothing to report here, as I've surely disappointed you now. What can I say, I'm eager to get outside. When the door opens, the corgi takes off, and nearly takes flight with its oversized ears. My playground is 8 green acres filled with trees to climb on, horses to ride, an old silo with the absolute best acoustics to sing in, and a barn filled with talking pigeons. In addition to the corn crib being part of my at-home softball team, I've also made a small concession stand near one of the ends. And that's where I'm headed- The horses must be hungry, of course. I serve old corn cobs. That's it. Remember, I'm on a farm in Iowa. What did you expect, sushi? If you're feeling frisky, I'll add a little mud on the top to give the cob something even more special. I sit here, hoping, like I do most days, that one of the nearby horses will come order one. They're too busy eating the morning dew off the grass. But wait, who's this? A make believe person who is hungry for a muddy corn cob at 8am? Yep. And so it goes, another morning as a 7-year-old.

Okay, now let's go be creative!