A Question. A Search. A Way of Life.
Jim Murphy began his career as an outfielder in the Chicago Cubs organization. Forced to retire due to injury, he found himself coaching for the Texas Rangers and was honored to coach the first South African Olympic baseball team to one of the greatest upsets in Olympic baseball history.
Despite all this success, Jim sought more and was torn by the question, "If I'm not an athlete, not a coach, what is my true purpose?" In 2003, he parted with most of his possessions, moved to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, simplified his life, and began a period of relative solitude to find that purpose.
Over the next five years, Jim researched and wrote full time in search of the answer to a question that perplexed him as he worked with world-class athletes, "How can an Olympic athlete train for four years, for an event that may last less than a minute, and have peace and confidence under that kind of pressure?"
This research became the foundation for Inner Excellence, which launched his life's work. Jim now helps people from all walks of life find poise under pressure, purpose, and fullness of life.
The Inner Excellence PhilosophyFor years, I believed excellence was something you achieved.
As an athlete, I was driven to become the best. As a coach, I spent years helping elite performers compete under pressure and achieve at the highest levels of sport. From the PGA and LPGA to the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and the U.S. Olympic Team, I had the privilege of working with extraordinary athletes pursuing extraordinary goals.
Yet the more success I experienced, the more I realized we had to go deeper—we had to get to the heart (and the subconscious).
Everything changed during a season of solitude in the desert. Away from the noise and the pursuit of more, my faith deepened. I began to see that lasting peace, confidence, and freedom don't come from what we achieve. They come from who we become.
That experience reshaped the way I coach, and the way I live.
Inner Excellence was born from that journey. It brings together what I've learned through years of coaching, studying human performance, and seeking God.
The quality of your life is based on three elements:
1. Your inner world of thoughts and feelings, beliefs and desires.
2. Your frame of reference from which you see the world.
3. Your relationships.
The quality of your performance is also based on three elements:
1. Your belief about who you are and what's possible for you.
2. Your freedom to play like a kid, curious and excited.
3. Your ability to focus and be fully engaged.
The three elements that determine the quality of your life and the three elements that determine the quality of your performance are deeply interwoven.
Today, my mission is to help people live extraordinary lives by helping them transform their hearts and minds to become the person they were created to become.
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Photo Credits: CBS NewsA moment that reached millions
On January 12, 2025, the Philadelphia Eagles were playing the Green Bay Packers in the NFL Wild Card playoff game. Eagles’ star wide receiver A.J. Brown was captured on camera reading a tattered, underlined, and highlighted copy of Inner Excellence on the sideline in the middle of the game. This unusual image in the heat of competition captured the world's attention and made Inner Excellence the fastest-growing book on Amazon overnight and a #1 New York Times bestseller.
Brown admitted he read Inner Excellence on the sidelines all season, and continued throughout the playoffs, leading the Eagles to a dominating win over the Kansas City Chiefs to become Super Bowl champions. His teammates called it "The Recipe." Since then, nearly 1 million people around the world have discovered the same secrets to performance, fearlessness, and poise under pressure that A.J. discovered that season, creating new champions and stories of success around the world.
Selfless is fearless.
Inner Excellence, in five parts
Select a question to read Jim's answer.
The Inner Excellence philosophy
Inner Excellence is a way of training the heart, mind, and body for extraordinary performance and the best possible life.
These are not two separate pursuits. The same inner work that helps an athlete perform freely under pressure also helps leaders make difficult decisions, parents stay present in hard conversations, and all of us meet uncertainty with greater peace and courage.
Extraordinary performance over the long run comes from human optimization. This means learning and growing every day to become the person you're meant to become, which in turn allows you to do things you've never done.
Why does Inner Excellence begin with the heart?
The heart is the control center of the human, working alongside the subconscious mind. The conscious mind is crucial, but it functions on the platform of the heart (your spirit and your will).
If you want to make lasting change in your life or help anyone else do the same, the most powerful way to do it is to get to the heart.
In Jim's five years of full-time writing and research for Inner Excellence, he realized that training the heart is the key to not just extraordinary performance, but more importantly, the best possible life.
To live the best possible life there must be passion and perseverance—and that takes a stable heart, one filled with inner strength and peace.
Thus, Inner Excellence is about training the heart, training it to love most what's most empowering, so you don't keep getting in your own way.
When the heart is full (with love, wisdom, and courage), then the mind is clear and free. This is what awaits those who pursue Inner Excellence.
Which world is shaping your life?
We often look to results, recognition, and circumstances for the peace and joy we want most. The Three Worlds Matrix is Jim's visual framework for understanding the relationship between the spiritual world, our inner world, and the external world of results and circumstances.
The model helps us see why the external world cannot carry everything the heart is asking of it. It also offers a way to notice where our attention has gone and what may be shaping the way we perform, respond, and live.
If you'd like to explore the Three Worlds Matrix, it's described in The Best Possible Life.
The promise of the Best Possible Life
The Best Possible Life is not a life in which everything goes how you want. Things happen. Plans fail. Approval comes and goes. Even the best preparation cannot place every outcome within your control. Besides, that wouldn't be the best for you anyway. The truth is, you don't know what circumstance or result is best for you; you only know what you want.
The best possible life is one of deep contentment, joy, and confidence that's not dependent on circumstances. It grows as we become more capable of love, more grounded in what lasts, and more fully engaged in the present.
Start your Inner Excellence journey
Inner Excellence is not something you read and put away. It's a transformational approach to courageously live in the moment and leverage the tools and strategies that champions use to develop poise under pressure and joy regardless of circumstance.
Jim's books explore the philosophy and its Christian foundation in greater depth. His free newsletter offers questions and reflections to carry into performance, relationships, faith, and everyday life.