After imparting lifestyle principles to millions — including, most famously, Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown — author Jim Murphy is planning to open a center in Kensington based on his bestselling book "Inner Excellence."
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This new headquarters could take the form of a coffee shop, Murphy said, and will be geared toward high school-aged kids. The goal is to help teens "really develop belief about what's possible in their life and have a little more peace and confidence in school and everything," he said. Though Murphy has mainly worked with athletes like Brown, who was filmed reading a highlighted copy of "Inner Excellence" on the bench during the Eagles' playoff win over the Packers, this center will be open to more than just student athletes.
Murphy is teaming up with Christian activist Shane Claiborne to execute the project. Claiborne founded the Simple Way, a nonprofit that distributes food and provides other services in Kensington, and RAWtools Philly, which turns guns into garden tools. The pair plans to scout potential locations in mid-May and hopes to launch later this summer.
"Belief is the biggest thing that 'Inner Excellence' does for people, changes what they believe is possible," Murphy said. "And I think that's the biggest need in Kensington."
Murphy's book, independently published in 2020, jumped to the top of Amazon's charts after the Packers-Eagles playoff game. "Inner Excellence" uses insights from Abraham Maslow, Teddy Roosevelt, championship-winning athletes and coaches, and Murphy himself to help readers improve their mindset and overall quality of life. It has since been picked up for a traditional book release through Grand Central Publishing.
The launch will bring him back to Philadelphia this Friday for a book signing at the Barnes & Noble on Chestnut Street. Murphy has been spending more and more time in the city since Brown's viral endorsement, he said. The author has since met with the wide receiver several times — "amazing guy, very humble, gentle, wants to do great things" — and was even here for the Super Bowl victory parade.
"The Eagles fans are so amazing, intense, passionate, like I've never met before," Murphy said.
The "Inner Excellence" on shelves now is almost identical to the one Brown read on the sidelines, apart from some minor cover art tweaks and a new banner along the top — "#1 New York Times bestseller." Readers will find the same anecdotes, mantras and daily actions that, Murphy claims, can lead to "extraordinary performance." He believes the book's call to live courageously is what resonated with Brown and will resonate with new readers, too.
"When you're selfless, you can be fearless," Murphy said. "I think that's what A.J. really connected with, that selflessness and that ability to be fully in the moment where there is no fear, or even if there is fear, you're present enough where you're more caught up in the experience of the moment than what will happen with the moment."
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