When Philadelphia Eagles star receiver A.J. Brown was reading Jim Murphy’s book Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life on the sideline during the Eagles' NFC wild card round win over the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 12, 2025, Murphy’s book exploded in popularity with him being featured on multiple podcasts and even an appearance on The TODAY Show.
Murphy explained that when Brown read his book, he showed the world that there’s always time to improve and grow and read, no matter how busy life gets.
“So what AJ Brown did was two big things,” Murphy said. “One, he showed the world that we all have time to read. “I mean, how many people do you hear, ‘Oh, I don't have time to read.’ AJ Brown says, ‘Oh yeah, you do. Watch me.’ And when you read, you open your life to unlimited wisdom when you read.”
“Two, he showed the world that if you're true to yourself and say, “Look, I just want to get better. I want to learn. I want to grow and I'm not attached to what people think. I just want to get better no matter what people think.”
Inner Excellence is a guide to "develop self-mastery, overcome anxiety, remove mental blocks, and train your subconscious mind." To achieve this, Murphy interviewed multiple athletes to gain perspective as to how to perform under intense pressure. Since the book has been exposed to a new fan base and is now a New York Times bestseller, Murphy has been surprised by how his book has changed lives.
“Initially, the shock was that people kept wanting to talk about me and how the book shot up ‘50 million percent’ or whatever, and I thought, Why do they want to talk about me?” Murphy said. “I’m insignificant. I’m just the messenger. But I guess that’s kind of the American dream that people think about.
“Several things are surprising: The book’s been out for 15 years, and now I have people emailing me every day saying it’s changed their life. That’s very different from a few months ago. I get a lot of people who are older who say the book changed their life and wish they had it when they were 19. That’s been surprising as well.”
Various athletes, including Ryan Dodd (World No. 1 ranked water ski jumper), Vaughn Taylor (three-time PGA Tour winner), and Kevin Connauton (defenseman for the NHL's Utah Mammoth), endorsed his book.
Murphy says that because anxiety is at epidemic levels in America and people are bombarded with tons of information through technology and specifically social media, it’s more important to keep a clear mind and focus to achieve life’s goals.
“A.J. Brown told me he reads the book because he wants that clear mind and unburdened heart, Murphy said. “And he's got to face his fears every time he steps onto that football field.”
So there's no need to read it if you don't have these sort of fears. And if you're already centered and you already have a clear mind and unburdened heart, keep doing what you're doing.
“But if you have anxiety and you're in too many thoughts and too many concerns, have ever overanalyzed anything. If your purpose isn't clear. “And you have this mind that constantly goes to the past and future judging self circumstances or others, this sort of thing, if you're afraid of what people think, then I think it would be very helpful.”
Inner Excellence is available at local bookstores or online retailers.