How To Use The Other 90% Of The Brain The Good Lord Gave You

Dear Friend,

My name is Richard Dean Delker, but everybody calls me Dean. I'm a basketball coach, and one of my passions in life is turning average Joe's and Josie's into great shooters. If that's why you're here go ahead and click the Hoops link in the menu above. You can always come back and dig in to the rest of this later.

In figuring out how to create better shooters I've uncovered evidence there's an astounding power caged inside our brains. The bestsellers from the 60's "Psycho-Cybernetics" by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, and "The Inner Game of Tennis" By Timothy Gallway were what first turned me on to new powerful mental techniques for self-improvement.

And you probably already know one of the first studies about using imagination to boost performance involved free throws. A group which only shot foul shots in their imagination every night made virtually the same progress as those who shot the same number of free throws every day in practice.

I'm not saying you should neglect practice, repetitions, building muscle memory, or conditioning, but at the very least all those elements can be made even better by combining them with good mental habits. And I suspect that's just the tip of the iceberg. For instance:

Now We Find Your Brain Can Make You Buff

A recent study by Erin M. Shackell and Lionel G. Standing at Bishops University in Quebec may soon stand the fitness world on it's head. You can check it out for yourself in the article "Mind Over Matter: Mental Training Increases Physical Strength" in the North American Journal of Psychology, 2007, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp 189-200

The study measured strength gains at training hip flexors in 3 different groups of people. The first did nothing outside their usual routine. The second group strength-trained 3 times a week. The third listened to audio CDs guiding them through the same workout as Group 2 except only in their imagination.

When the study was over the scientists were amazed. Group 1 had no gains, as you'd expect. Group 2 had a 28% increase in strength which would also be expected. But the stunner was that Group 3 was not far behind with an incredible 24% in stength gains over the same period. And if you're the cynical type and think the third group must have been training those muscles unintentionally through some other activities, hip flexors were chosen specifically because that wouldn't happen.

As my politically incorrect grandpa used to say, "Put that in your pipe and smoke it."

You Are A Miracle

I believe the vast majority of people on planet Earth are selling themselves short and are capable of living far more amazing lives than they do. Not only capable of it, but literally designed for it. Yeah, you heard me right. You were created to a winner. It's a vital part of your destiny and purpose in life. That, and helping others do the same.

You might not be able to accept what I say today. After all, you don't know me. But consider this. The Bible says we are "created in the image and likeness of God", we are "awesomely and wonderfully made", "the kingdom of God is within", and Jesus came that "we might have abundant life".

Success is not automatic though. Our world is a fallen one, and most of us are programmed from childhood to expect a life full of limitations, struggles, problems and disappointments. We are told to just deal with it and do the best you can.

The truth is we need inspiration and tools which work on a higher level, and the ones I've uncovered all work from inside - out. My job, as I see it, is to help you discover just how amazing you can be, and I take that charge seriously. I want to teach you the art of connecting with your powerful internal energies.

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I want to make sure you have game - Inner Game - which is what's going on in your head when you do anything. What you are thinking, feeling, believing, and picturing. That's where winning starts, but that's where losing starts too, and I want to give you the winning edge.

All I need to help you be even more of a success are your name and e-mail address.

Rest assured I won't sell or rent your name to anybody. I'll guard your privacy like a doberman. And you can easily unsubscribe should you choose.

Now Don't Give Me Too Much Of That Woo Woo Stuff

I wouldn't dream of it. I want things to be practical. We will be navigating some uncharted waters though. The strange world of quantum physics now seems to back up what the spiritual masters and mystics have long said.

And I will touch on the spiritual too. We are spirit beings having a material experience and the mind is the interface between the two. I believe for you to be a real success your life has to work on all it's levels. Not that I've got all the answers, but I promise to make you think.

The Dean of Easy Street with the 2006 NCAA Championship trophy

So I'm not talking about sitting around contemplating your navel. We are made to be co-creators in this life. Point men and women of the Divine plan, and the very laws of the universe enforce that. For things to happen in the material world we are the one's who have to take action.

Pure spirits can't do it. It's not up to the angels, or the devils. They're like Patrick Swayze's character in the movie "Ghost". They need a human vessel to work through. It's up to us, and so far we haven't done the best of jobs. That's because historically people have tried to do most of the work at the material level, where it is the hardest.

So we want to do our work on the inside first. Then we'll pre-pave the steets of our action. That's the place I call Easy Street. We'll be in the zone, in the flow, finding much less resistance, and knowing far fewer limits.

And not because we're lazy either. It's because that's the way the Universe works best. Tough, backbreaking, frustrating work is part of the curse in Genesis, but we weren't left like that. God redeemed us. Shouldn't we do everything we can to live the abundant life? Isn't it time to let your work become your play?

Go and Play to Win,

Dean Delker

The Dean of Easy Street