Jim Murphy Wouldn't Trade His Book for $100 Million. Then A.J. Brown Picked It Up.

Sunday, January 12, 2025.

Jim Murphy was walking around downtown Dallas. His mom was dying. Business was slow. And for the first time in years, the man who coaches some of the best athletes in the world didn't have the money in the bank to cover his credit cards.

"Life was kind of lonely and somber, and mom's dying, and business was slow," he told me.

He looked up at a skyscraper, and a thought came to him.

"Jim, would you rather own that skyscraper straight out or . . . have written the book, The Best Possible Life?"

His answer to himself: "I wouldn't trade it for $100 million."

So he told himself, at least you've got that. That's pretty cool.

Then he walked back to his hotel, picked up his phone, and saw a pile of texts.

His first thought was that his mom had died.

The texts said, "You need to turn on the Eagles Packers wild card game."

On the sideline, cameras had caught A.J. Brown reading Inner Excellence, the book Jim first published in 2009. It went to number one on the New York Times list. That broadcast is where I first saw the book, too.

When Jim finished telling me that story on the Spartan Leadership Podcast, I said the only thing I could: "God is always working. And even in those trials and tribulations."

I picked up Inner Excellence a couple months before we recorded, and it instantly joined my top 10 reads of all time. I told my wife, "I think this should be required reading for anyone 14 years old or older." Then I read his follow-up, The Best Possible Life, right after.

Here's what I took from our conversation.

A 15-Year Overnight Success Started With a Box He Couldn't Fit Into

Jim's whole life, he dreamed of being a superstar athlete. He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and played five years of professional baseball in the minor leagues. Then an injury ended it, and he was devastated.

He drove a FedEx truck in Seattle. Someone asked him to coach a high school baseball team, and they went undefeated. That's when he decided the destiny he'd always pictured was off by one word. The word was coach.

So he made the plan. Grad school at the University of British Columbia. A job with the Texas Rangers two weeks after graduation.

He quit six months in.

"It just was a box that I couldn't fit into," he said. "At the time I felt like a total failure, but now I realize God had far bigger things . . . prepared for me."

He gave away the majority of his possessions and moved to the Arizona desert. He started coaching pro baseball players on how to have peace and confidence under pressure. When he asked sports psychologists how an Olympic athlete trains four years for an event that may last less than a minute, he didn't get good answers. So he spent five years full time writing and researching that one question.

That became Inner Excellence.

He landed a New York City literary agent and a major publisher, and the book went into bookstores around the world. He was also $90,000 in debt.

From the book's release to that sideline was about 15 years. Everybody wants to think it happened overnight.

How long have you been in your desert? And are you calling it failure, or training?

A Homeless Harpist Named Zoe Handed Jim His Own Thesis

February 2010. Denver, Colorado.

Jim had spent his life savings, and his mind was spinning out of control. If no one buys the book, they pull it off the shelves. Then he'd be a total failure, and everyone would know it.

"And this is what happens when you isolate yourself," he told me. "We're created for relationship. And we need someone to tell us in the tough times of who we are and what's possible."

He called his friend Ricky and said, "Tell me what to do."

Ricky said, "Find a homeless person and help him."

Jim looked around the corner and saw a homeless harpist. He sat down on the curb next to him, opened his wallet, and found $100. His credit cards were close to maxed out. He gave him the $100 anyway.

A couple hours later, Jim was sitting in a Starbucks, full of anxiety, when the harpist walked in.

"Are you the guy that gave me that money?"

Jim said yes. The man left and came back with a box of chocolates, a card, and a bracelet he had made.

The card said, "Thank you so much for caring for me. No one's cared for me like that before. Love Zoe."

Here's why that mattered. While he was writing the book, a woman from his church told him about the Greek word zoe. It means life. Absolute fullness of life. It's the word in John 10:10, "I came to bring you life and life abundantly."

She told him that was what his book was about. He agreed.

"My whole life I've obsessed about being a superstar when what I've always really wanted was to feel fully alive."

He signed a copy of Inner Excellence, gave it to Zoe, and never saw him again.

Lesson: the breakthrough showed up the moment Jim stopped staring at his own problem and helped someone else.

Who is sitting on the curb around your corner right now?

Selfless Is Fearless, Even When Payroll Is Due

I asked Jim the question I know a lot of you are asking. "Selfless is fearless" sounds great . . . until payroll is due.

His answer: "Fear is inherently self-centered."

Then he told me what changed when he surrendered his life to God. "I'm no longer responsible for payroll or . . . any of these things. That's God's responsibility. My responsibility is really only two things. It's my heart and my effort."

I've worked with a lot of business owners who have a selfless mission and still hold back just a little. They're concerned about payroll. They're concerned about judgment. That fear keeps them from what God is truly calling them to do.

Jim named three obstacles that keep people from performing at their best:

Overthinking.

Judgment, which he described as "laying down a negative verdict about self, circumstances, or others."

Self-consciousness. What will people think about me?

And he defined ego as "the part of the mind that's always threatened, always comparing, never satisfied. Always puts you on trial."

Then he said something every high achiever needs to hear. "Nobody wants a million dollars. They want what they think the million dollars will give them."

You don't even know if the outcome you're chasing is good for you. The biggest client of your life. The CEO title. A hundred thousand followers. "Might be the worst thing for you," Jim said.

That's why Inner Excellence has four daily goals that redefine success: give the best of what you have in this moment, be present, be grateful, and focus on your routines and only what you can control.

And if a leader changed only one daily habit? Jim's answer: ten to fifteen minutes in the morning of "meditative prayer where you're soaking up God's love."

He admitted that with a new city every few days, his own mornings have slipped. When he skips that time with God, he gets more self-centered, and anxiety and fear follow.

I appreciated that honesty.

I Lack Nothing Was True for Me in the Pit

One of the mantras that meant the most to me in Jim's work is "I lack nothing, I expect nothing."

It comes from Psalm 23. "The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing." Jim explained that fear is about lack. Lack of security. Lack of abundance. Lack of belonging, of being enough.

I told Jim why it hit me so hard.

When my firm was ripped away from me, I found myself in a pit of despair. And what I realized there was this. I still had my health. I still had God by my side. I still had my wife. I still had my kids.

I didn't have my title, my business, or the other things I clung to. But in that moment, I had everything I needed.

The things that mattered most in my life, I still had. The things that mattered least, the ones I put the most attention on, were taken away.

There are no U-Hauls following hearses around.

Jim's "I expect nothing" comes with a tool you can use before your next big moment. Think about a presentation or a meeting that makes you nervous. Feel the nerves. Take a long, slow breath in through your nose and say "I expect." Hold it. Then exhale longer than you inhaled and say "nothing."

He said it "can really clear your mind of . . . needs."

Jim warned that the more talent, money, and status you have, the more likely you are to get pulled into what he calls the vortex. I didn't have a name for it, but I was fully immersed in it. It took the pit for me to see how many idols I had placed above God.

Jim closed with compassion. He builds homes for families in need in Baja, Mexico, and I asked him why not just write checks.

"Writing a check is . . . super, super great and . . . very necessary," he said. Compassion literally means to suffer with. It "means getting in there, connecting with people that are suffering. And you can't have compassion if you're in a hurry."

Where are you in too much of a hurry to suffer with someone?

You can find Jim, his books, and his newsletter at innerexcellence.com.

## Action Items From Today 1. Before you open your phone tomorrow, give God 10 to 15 minutes of quiet prayer. Do it for seven straight days and notice what changes in how you lead. 2. Write down the one outcome you're chasing hardest right now. Under it, write what you think it will give you. Then ask whether you can pursue that directly. 3. Before your next big meeting or presentation, use the "I expect . . . nothing" breath. Inhale on "I expect," hold, and exhale longer on "nothing." 4. Name the obstacle that shows up most for you under pressure: overthinking, judgment, or self-consciousness. Catch it once this week and write down what it cost you. 5. Find one person who is struggling and give them your time in person, with no hurry. 6. Take the Life Quotient Assessment to see where your life is thriving and where it's drifting.

Five Bridges Challenges

Spiritual Bridge: Read Psalm 23 slowly each morning this week. Say "I lack nothing" out loud and mean it.

Internal Bridge: List the things you'd still have if your title and business were taken tomorrow. Put the top three where you'll see them every day.

Relationships Bridge: Jim said we're created for relationship. Call the one person who tells you the truth about who you are and what's possible, and tell them what you're carrying right now.

Walk It Out With Other Leaders

Jim's night in Denver shows what isolation does to a high achiever. If you're carrying the weight alone, the Bridge Builder Mastermind is a small group of leaders walking the Five Bridges together.

My book, The Kairos Code, walks through those bridges in order: Spiritual, Internal, Relationships, Environment, and Legacy.

Thank you, Jim, for pouring your heart out for the Spartan audience.

The Moment is NOW.

Inspire & Impact,

Josh