Inner Excellence author Jim Murphy: how PRs can perform under pressure

After being drafted by the Chicago Cubs, an eye injury ended a devastated Jim Murphy’s baseball career, before he’d rediscover his passion through coaching an undefeated inner-city team. That led him to earn a master’s, land a coaching role with the Texas Rangers, and later lead South Africa’s national team to the Olympics, where he’d meet Nelson Mandela and witness one of the biggest upsets in Olympic baseball history.

But it was years later, in January 2025, that his life truly changed, when NFL superstar AJ Brown was spotted on national TV reading a heavily underlined copy of Murphy’s decade-old self-published book, Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life during the Super Bowl, catapulting the book to the top of bestseller charts and sparking a bidding war.

Today, the man behind the Super Bowl’s most unexpected viral moment, whom the Guardian calls the “Marie Kondo for the modern moment”, coaches elite athletes and Fortune 500 leaders, helping them unlock clarity, stillness and grace under pressure.

After the jump, Influence editor Lysanne Currie's interview with Jim Murphy…

I decided to move to the Arizona desert to live a life of solitude. I’d seen an episode of Ellen, in which Ellen DeGeneres said she left her roommate because staying would mean being stuck in the same place five years later – and it resonated deeply: saying in Vancouver meant sticking with old friends who urged me not to change, but I needed to leave my past behind. I gave away half my possessions – I wanted a simple life devoted to something worth living and dying for. 

I lived in the desert for two and a half years. I went to church on Sundays and cut out distractions like TV. And despite offers of investment and clients wanting to open a gym with me, I left the personal training business because I didn’t want to be labelled as just a trainer or deal with the stress of being on call for things like the gym needing a plumber at midnight. 

I was so isolated that one day, while journalling in my house, I heard fireworks outside – and only then realised it was New Year’s Eve.

I decided to become a personal coach for pro baseball players. Teaching them how to find peace and confidence under pressure – a job I’d never heard of before but wanted to try. My first two clients did extraordinarily well, so I began creating a manual on this topic. I didn’t plan for it to become a book, just a short guide based on my experience interviewing Major League managers for my master’s thesis, called Dugout Wisdom. I next spent five years and 50-60 hours a week researching the question of how a player could stay calm and confident in their most intense moments. That work evolved into what became my book Inner Excellence.

At the beginning of this year my mortgage bounced, I was $90k [£60,000] in debt, and I couldn’t pay off my credit cards for the first time in years. Ironically, just days earlier, I’d published my fourth book, The Best Possible Life, about spirituality. A couple of hours later, everything changed.

I was in my hotel room, watching a football game on my laptop, when my phone suddenly lit up with texts. At first, I thought my dying mom had passed; she died four days later. But instead, it was messages urging me to watch the Eagles-Packers game. AJ Brown, one of the NFL’s top receivers, was reading Inner Excellence live on national TV. 

Weeks before, I’d seen a photo of him with the book but had forgotten about it. Now the camera zoomed in as Tom Brady and Kevin Burkhardt discussed it on air. I was stunned. Almost immediately, texts, emails, and calls flooded in. The NFL Network contacted me that night, asking for a copy to air the next morning. Within a week, I was on the Today Show, twice, and drowning in interview requests. AJ Brown’s foundation manager helped me until I signed with an agent. It was crazy.

For the first 15 or 16 years, Inner Excellence probably sold around 7,000 to 8,000 copies total. I never tracked the numbers closely. When people asked how it was doing, I’d say, “All I know is I haven’t made the New York Times bestseller list… yet.” For years, I even had an affirmation saved on my phone: “I’m a New York Times bestselling author.” Eventually, I deleted it. 

Fast forward to January 2025: up until the 11th, the book was selling maybe one or two copies a day – maybe 15 to 20 copies total that month. Then January 14th hit: we sold 42,000 copies in a single day. On the 15th, another 42,000. To put that in perspective, it typically takes about 7,000-8,000 sales in a week to make the New York Times list. We hit 84,000 in just two days.

I felt God say clearly: “You didn’t do this. You’re not the one doing it.” That reminder grounded me. I didn’t need to stress. This wasn’t about me. Whether you sell 1,000 copies or a billion, your purpose doesn’t change. So that really helped me stay focused and present. With the sudden spike in interest around the book, I started getting invited to lead retreats, speak at corporate away days, and take on a whole new wave of opportunities. I’ve now travelled to over 50 countries. 

Let’s consider three different people: a single parent working two jobs with kids at home; a corporate professional facing long hours and high stress; and a professional athlete under constant public scrutiny. They all share something in common: anxiety, due to feeling a lack of control. 

The most common question from corporate clients is, ‘with so much pressure and things out of control, how can you help us be more present and focus on what we can do?’ 

The solution is the same for all three: simplify life around a clear, empowering purpose; have a clear mind and keep an unburdened heart. That’s what Inner Excellence is – an in-depth system of teaching you how to be fully engaged in the moment, letting go of the things you can’t control, and showing you how to live a life of deep joy, and confidence – no matter what.

Inner Excellence is for people who want to live an extraordinary life. It’s not for an average life. 

Self-centeredness is the biggest challenge you face in performance and in life, so that’s going to take some work. Secondly, the best possible life has one foot in joy and one foot in suffering. There’s no way to learn and grow and be who you’re created to be, unless you’re willing to face your fears, willing to be uncomfortable and willing to sacrifice.

The foundation of Inner Excellence comes down to three core pillars, summed up by the acronym BFF (like Best Friends Forever). Everything I teach, write, or speak about centres around these: 

• ‘B’ is for Belief – your subconscious comfort level with what you truly feel is possible in your life. 
• ‘F’ is for Freedom – the number one thing people crave and the thing they often lack. I’m talking about the freedom to fail, to look foolish, and especially, the freedom to play like a kid. 
• F is also for Focus – the ability to be fully engaged in the moment with your heart, mind, and body, completely unattached to the outcome.

I feel anxiety has dramatically increased, especially in teenagers, but across all age groups. There’s a real sense of fear with what’s happening with the world. So much is out of our control. The greatest human need is for love and connection, and that has really dropped, because we’ve become more and more isolated, which has increased anxiety and increased suicide. So, going forward, I think there’s a real need for love and community.

Inner Excellence is built on daily habits – routines that help you live with peace and joy, no matter what’s happening around you. It’s about how you want to face adversity and who you want to become. There are four daily goals that guide this mindset: learn and grow, give the best of what you have, be present and grateful and focus on your routines – only on what you can control.

• Inner Excellence is out now, published by Hachette UK or find out more about Jim Murphy on his website.
   

Lysanne Currie is the editor of Influence. She previously edited Director magazine for the Institute of Directors and Sky magazine for British Sky Broadcasting. Lysanne is the founder and CEO of content agency Meet the Leader.

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