A.J. Brown and the lessons from ‘Inner Excellence’ sideline book reading: ‘Clear mind and unburdened heart’

The author of Inner Excellence was home in Snohomish, Wash., watching football Sunday night. But while the rest of the football-watching world was tuned into the Eagles-Packers NFC playoff game, Jim Murphy was watching a replay of Notre Dame’s win over Penn State from Thursday night. He heard it was a good game and knew the result, but he wanted to watch it for himself.

Then the text messages started streaming in. “This is crazy,” Murphy said. “This is amazing.”

A.J. Brown was caught on camera reading the book that helped launch Murphy’s second career after an injury ended the baseball-playing portion of his life. Inner Excellence teaches athletes to, among other things, live and perform with “a clear mind and unburdened heart,” Murphy said. It’s a mental skills book that comes highly recommended from some PGA Tour professionals who have both read it and worked with Murphy, who is now a performance coach.

But for Brown, who says he has it on the sideline every game and often reads it during games, it “gives me a sense of peace,” he said.

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He needed peace Sunday. The Eagles advanced to the divisional round of the playoffs with their 22-10 victory over the Green Bay Packers, but the passing offense struggled in Jalen Hurts’ return to the lineup. Brown was targeted just three times and caught a season-low one pass for 10 yards. So there he was in the fourth quarter, reminding himself to have a clear mind and a clear conscience.

“For me, this game is mental,” said Brown, who has highlighted sections and written his own notes inside the book, including the one Murphy mentioned about the clear mind and unburdened heart.

“I physically believe I can do anything and everything, but I got to make sure my mental is good. It’s how I refresh every drive, regardless of if I score a touchdown or if I drop a pass. I always go back to that book every drive and refocus.”

Brown bought the book earlier this year. He said he tries to read about two books per month, and doesn’t enjoy reading fiction. So defensive tackle Moro Ojomo suggested Inner Excellence to him. Brown has highlighted sections and written his own notes inside the book.

Among the things he’s learned from the book: “If you’re humble, you can’t be embarrassed,” Brown said. “No matter what happens in the game or whatever happens, I’m just going to stay free and play free, keep going and take risks.”

Brown was prepared for the line of questioning that was coming after the game. Did you pick the book up after the third-and-1 deep pass misfired? Were you reading it because you were frustrated?

“Why do you guys always think I’m frustrated?” Brown said with a laugh. “I like to read.”

Brown’s honest comments after the Eagles squeaked by the Carolina Panthers in early December again cast him as the villain. He said later that week that he was “OK with being whatever bad guy I have to be for the city, the town,” before the passing attack got back on track a week later vs. Pittsburgh.

The offense, Brown admitted Sunday, “can be better.”

“We got some stuff that we have to fix on offense and try to execute,” he said.

Murphy played minor-league baseball for five years before injuries ruined his baseball career. He used to dream about being a famous star athlete. He was “obsessed about being successful,” he said.

But after his playing days ended he had no idea what to do next. It was time to go soul-searching. He sold most of his belongings, television included, and in 2003 moved to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, where he spent the next two-plus years “figuring out what to do with my life.” Five years of writing and research went into the first version of Inner Excellence, but it all started with a question: How can an Olympic athlete train for four years, for an event that may last less than 60 seconds, and perform with complete peace and confidence?

Murphy learned two key things, he said.

One ... “Your heart is the key to your life, in anything,” he said. “Whether you’re a pro football player, Olympic athlete, reporter, or a coach like myself, it doesn’t matter. Your heart is where your deepest fears are and where your greatest dreams are, and we use the mind to train the heart. Sports psychology is great because it uses the mind. We got to get to a deeper level if you want to have the greatest impact, and if you want to have the most peace under the most pressure, we got to get to the heart and the subconscious.

Two ... “I realized I didn’t want to devote my life to something that didn’t really matter,” Murphy said. “I didn’t want to, for example, help someone win a gold medal or a world championship and they’re left feeling empty and it feels meaningless.

“In my research I found out that the path to having the most peace and confidence under the most pressure, and the path to living the best possible life, a life of deep contentment and joy and confidence, is the same path. It’s a whole-hearted path where you really get clear on who you are and what you really, really want most.

“I realized what I wanted most afterwards was to feel really alive.”

He has spent more than a decade helping athletes understand and abide by those two things. But it started slow.

Writing Inner Excellence had him $90,000 in debt, Murphy said. He wasn’t a natural marketer and didn’t have money to hire anyone to do it for him. One day he got a call from the caddie of PGA Tour pro Henrik Stenson. He had read the book and knew Murphy was working as a performance coach, so Murphy flew to Sweden to work with his first big-time client. He started his work with Stenson in the fall of 2011, by 2013, Stenson was the FedEx Cup champion. Next came Hunter Mahan, who after some success in 2010 needed to refocus. Shortly after working with Murphy, Mahan became a winner again in 2012.

The client list grew. Murphy has worked with PGA pros, MLB players, NHLers, and more.

Indirectly, Brown, too.

“It’s amazing,” Murphy said. “I’m just really grateful I can be a source of hopefully some good thoughts and wisdom for him.”

Murphy’s book was already becoming a viral sensation Sunday night. People on social media shared screen shots of their book orders, and others had “reviewed” the book and rated it five stars on Amazon with messages about Brown. Money from the book sales were coming, and so was the fleeting fame that comes with virality.

But Murphy said more than anything else he wanted people to learn about the messages inside Inner Excellence.

“There’s so much more to your life than the business of just trying to achieve,” he said. “America is so obsessed with achievement when what we really want it to feel fully alive.

“Why are you playing in the NFL? Why are you a pro golfer? What is it you really want? I think what you want more than being an All-Pro NFL player and winning the Super Bowl is to feel fully alive and live a meaningful, fulfilling life with amazing experiences and deep and rich relationships. That’s what I think we really want and that’s what I hope people learn.”

Brown is probably hoping for both, a Super Bowl and the other stuff on the side. He is hoping for a turnaround performance from the offense, too. The Eagles are moving on to the next round, and you can count on Brown having Inner Excellence with him on the bench. As he spoke in front of his locker stall Sunday night, the book was on a shelf behind him, the pages visibly worn.

“My teammates call it the recipe,” he said.