From High Performance to Fulfillment: Lessons in Inner Mastery with Jim Murphy

Living a Life in Full is a conversation you always wanted to have with that person who gave an amazing TED Talk, or the author of one of your favorite books, or that inspirational Olympian you always wanted to know more about. It's graduate-level conversations with those making a difference in the world and in the lives of others. This show brings you new ideas and approaches so that you can live a life in full. I'm your host, Dr. Chris Stout, and I hope you enjoy this episode. This episode is brought to you by the nonprofit I founded, the Center for Global Initiatives. The Center is an all-volunteer organization, so there are no salaries, and thus all tax-deductible donations can go to the work. While our key country partner is in Tanzania, our work is global and generally focused in the areas of education and healthcare. We also help others to get their nonprofits started or augment others' project-based initiatives. It's our goal to open-source humanitarian intervention and to help make it easier for others to do more good in the world. We are proud to have been ranked a Great Nonprofit every year since 2011 and to have achieved a Platinum-level rating by GuideStar. Links in this episode's show notes will take you to published articles on our outcomes, a number of helpful tools, and downloadable resources, which are all free, always. Please visit us at CenterForGlobalInitiatives.org, and be sure to watch our video at patreon.com/DrChrisStout to learn more. Thanks. Welcome to another episode of Living a Life in Full, the podcast dedicated to exploring the journeys of individuals who are maximizing their human potential aligning their values with their vocation, and making a difference in the world. I'm your host, Dr. Chris Stout. What if the secret to becoming a world-class performer isn't trying harder but letting go? Is it possible that high performance is the consequence of pursuing a full life rather than the other way around? As many of you know, this show is dedicated to exploring the nuances of human flourishing. How can we bridge the gap between high performance and true deep-seated fulfillment? Today, I'm particularly excited because our guest is someone who has spent his entire career in the laboratory of high-pressure environments, decoding actually what makes the world's best performers tick. In a world obsessed with the grind and external validation, Jim Murphy is the architect of a different path. As the founder of Inner Excellence, Jim has spent decades in the trenches with elite athletes, from the high-pressure greens of the PGA Tour to the explosive intensity of the NFL, from Olympic gold medalists to Fortune 500 executives, teaching them that the greatest obstacle to success isn't the opponent, but the ego. Jim's work is a masterclass in extraordinary poise. He doesn't just coach people on how to win, he coaches them on how to be untethered from the fear of losing. Losing. By shifting the focus from results-oriented stress to heart-centered, egoless pursuit of mastery, Jim helps leaders and athletes achieve what I call living a life in full. Jim is also the number one New York Times bestselling author with his book Inner Excellence, which is a blueprint for anyone looking to bridge the gap between their potential and their reality, proving that when you master your inner world, the outer world takes care of itself. He began his career as a professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization. After experiencing vision issues that ended his playing career, Jim coached with the Texas Rangers as well as the South African Olympic baseball team. He's worked with some of the world's best golfers, including world champions, FedEx Cup champions, and world number ones. The majority of Jim's clients have had the best year of their careers in their first year working with him. In addition to coaching professional athletes and executives, Jim leads Inner Excellence off-site retreats around the globe, and he's the president of the Inner Excellence Freedom Project, whose mission is to build communities to alleviate spiritual and physical poverty around the world. But Jim isn't your typical rah-rah motivational speaker. He approaches performance from the inside out. He challenges the conventional wisdom that success is purely about grit external goals, or positive thinking. Instead, Jim focuses on what he calls extraordinary poise, helping individuals find a sense of peace and egoless focus even in the high-stakes moments of their lives. Jim, hey, welcome to the show. It's great to have you on.

Dr. Stout, that was a lot.

Well, it's all you, man. I'm not sure the best place to start, so I guess we're going to bounce around a bit.

Maybe you should remember that I'm just, I'm just little Jimmy from Lake Young's Elementary School. That's, that's all who I am.

Yeah, right. Well, you have, you've met— you kind of telegraphed my, my next question. Maybe I would like to hear a little bit about your upbringing and your parents. So tell us about those, those early days. What was it like to be there as little Jimmy?

Yeah, I, I grew up in Renton, Washington, went to Lake Young's Elementary, and it was, um, my dad was, was very strict disciplinarian, and my mom, with the Japanese heritage, samurai heritage, was very disciplined. School was, was extremely important, like most, um, you know, in Asian culture, academics is very, very important. And so, um, in elementary school, we would have a, a little, um prayer meeting or Bible study, something like that, when I was before school. So my dad would get us all up early before school, and I would kind of doze off because I was so tired. It was like 6:30 or 7 in my mom's lap. Thankfully, my dad let it slide. But yeah, elementary school was, was I moved from Baltimore, Maryland in kindergarten. My dad got a job at Boeing. So we moved across the country, started first grade in Seattle, well, Renton. And it was great until about the third or fourth grade, I started getting bullied. And it was not a normal thing. I wrote about this in my newsletter recently. Typically, you know, people that get bullied are people that are not like me. I was one of the best athletes. I was one of the best students and one of the most outgoing and one of the leaders in my grade. But there was a confrontation I had with one of the other leaders, third or fourth grade, and I felt like they chose him over me. And so I felt rejected. And, and then that turned into this kind of freefall. And I isolated myself. I stopped playing at recess. And, um, yeah, it was, it was, uh, it was very intense. And then I started to get picked on because I was now isolated and became a target. And, um, but when I look back on my life and, um, all the miracles that happened, and I see all the low points and how God's been training me this whole time, and if my life was an easy ride, then I never would have become I would have been too full of myself. And I would have realized how fragile life is and how much God has done and how much, how little I've done.

So there was sort of a similar experience with that when you came to the Cubs organization that you were very excited about it, you had these visions of, you know, playing pro ball. And here we go. And then you started to experience some vision issues that sort of knocked you out of that. And if, you know, clarify for me if my research is right, but they kind of always went undiagnosed. So tell us about that period of your life as well.

Yeah, playing for the Cubs, uh, was a dream come true when I got drafted. And, um, my dream since I was little was to be a superstar. I always thought I'm going to, um, be the guy that every guy wants to be, cover magazines, making millions of dollars, and the guy that every girl wants to be with. And, um, So getting drafted by the Cubs was a dream come true. And then 5 years later, got injured. Well, I had to retire because of a vision issue. It's called dynamic visual acuity. That's the ability of your eyes to work together, the muscles to work together to track a moving object. And my muscles of the eyes were not able to do that anymore. But the hardest thing was that there was no diagnosis and nobody knew. Because my eye chart vision was perfect or better than 20/20. And so everything's clear. So I can't— I don't know, there's a vision issue with my eyes. What happened was I was going to the University of Washington, and I took Spanish 101, and I got a 2.1. I just didn't want to study. And I was gonna get a headache when I would study. And so I remember how I would buy a can of Coke to— so I could kind of have some caffeine to try and stay awake while I studied. And I just remember getting 2.1 that term. And then And for some reason, I went to an eye doctor, and then she checked my dynamic acuity. And she's like, whoa, here's a problem. And she's like, by the way, what do you do? I said, I'm a pro baseball player. And she's like, whoa, how do you hit the ball? I said, I've been having a real hard time. And she's like, yeah, I can't imagine you hitting a baseball with this vision. And yeah, so that the Cubs never diagnosed it. And it started right when I got into pro baseball. I just thought, oh, you know, baseball is just much harder as a pro. And, but so we'll never know what would have happened if my vision was good as a pro. But the thing is, I was— that was my obsession. And the problem is I had a single story for my life, and my life has to be the way that I want it to be. And if it's not that way, then my life is over. And what I've realized since then what I've always really wanted is to feel fully alive. It's just that was the story that I had in my mind of what it would take to have the best possible life. And now I know that absolute fullness of life has one foot in joy and one foot in suffering. And it's not about your circumstances or results, but it's about what's in your heart.

Gotcha. Was that then— following that was the time that you went to Sonora by yourself for that 2-year period, or where does that fit into your story?

Yeah, I, I left the Cubs devastated, totally lost, and no, I wasn't suicidal, but that was like, I've got nothing now. I don't even know what's, which way's up, left, right. I'm driving a truck for FedEx downtown Seattle, and I get asked to coach a high school baseball team, a JV for O'Dea High School, inner city Seattle, and I never even considered coaching. But my, my route finished at 3 o'clock and the practices and games started at 3:30. And so I was like, oh, all right, well, we'll give it a shot. And it was so much fun. And we never lost. And so those two things were like, whoa, I think I had my destiny wrong, is to be a Major League Baseball manager. So I went to grad school, I studied coaching science, how to build a championship team by interviewing 39 Major League Baseball GMs and Major League league managers and coaches and asking them everything about building a championship team. I got a job with the Texas Rangers 2 weeks after graduation. And so my personality has always been pretty obsessive. I just always wanted to be a superstar and live an extraordinary life. And so I thought, okay, now I'm gonna, I'm gonna lead the Texas Rangers to the World Series and keep doing that, and then I'll retire. And And then that, that was a box that was just too small for me to fit in. And I, and I felt like a failure again, like, what is happening here? I can't believe this. And then I get a call from Major League Baseball asking if I wanted to coach the South— be the hitting coach for the South African national team for their Olympic trials in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Wow.

And at the time, that was one of the most dangerous cities in the world. And I thought, are they only calling me because I'm the only one that will take the job? I'm like their 10th person they call But I flew out there and it was an extraordinary experience. I'm still on a WhatsApp group with the guys from that 2000 Olympic team. 26 years later. Our bat boy was living in the tool shed of our baseball field with his brother and mother. His name is Gift Ngupe. He ends up getting drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, plays in the big leagues, first African-born player ever. But South Africa, yeah, really changed my life. I'd never seen real poverty before. He was, you know, living in our tool sheds gift was, and of the baseball field. And yeah, that was an amazing experience. We win the Olympic trials, we go to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, we have one of the biggest upset victories in Olympic baseball history, got to meet Nelson Mandela and march at opening ceremonies and meet these incredible people in South Africa. It was amazing.

Wow.

Wow.

That Just sounds amazing. So, top of the world now, and then what? How does that— where does that lead you?

Yeah, the Olympics was so awesome, and, um, and then now what? Um, I didn't know what to do with my life, and so I went back to being a personal fitness trainer like I did in grad school and, and, um, just started my own business and doing that, and it was good. I enjoyed it. But I was like, a couple things. One, I realized people need much more help than losing 10, 20 pounds or gaining muscle. Like, you know, as a personal trainer, you become kind of their therapist, you're listening to their life. And I realized I want to have a much bigger impact on their life than, than just physical. And so in grad school, I was kind of unsure, do I want to go become a strength and conditioning coach for a pro baseball team or become a major league manager? And so I kind of wanted to have both in case I fell back on one. But I did that personal training for 3, 4 years, and I just— one day my girlfriend was like, Tim, what are you doing? You know, I know you're restless and, and you want to do something else. And, uh, I said, you're right. So I, um, you've probably done this a few times, Dr. Stout. I, I gave away majority of my possessions, moved to the desert to live a life of solitude, and that's where Inner Excellence was born. Wow.

So, so no more girlfriend and no more FedEx, or how did, how did you, you know, why, and why Sonora? And tell us, you know, let's dive into that. What was— what was like for you?

My teammate in pro baseball, Ricky Scruggs, um, he was my teammate with the Surrey Glaciers in Vancouver, BC. That was the most amazing summer in 1995. And, um, he was starting a baseball academy in Tucson, Arizona, and, uh, he said, can you come down for the weekend to, to help me launch this thing? And, and that was the time when I was really thinking about I need a fresh start. I need to clear my mind. And I need to— I always think about this show at the time. There's a show on TV called Ellen from Ellen DeGeneres. And she was— this one episode, she was moving. This was back when I had a TV. She was moving out of her apartment with her friend. And her friend was like, why are you leaving? We always have such a good time. You know, we, we could spend hours together and do nothing and just enjoy each other. And she's like, Yeah, that's why I'm moving, because in 5 years, I would be in the same spot. And that really got to me. I was like, if I don't do something, like, serious right now, in 5 years, I'm going to be in the same spot. And I do not want to be here. And so in this same spot, and so, I mean, my life was good, but I knew, I just felt like I was destined for something greater. And so I went to live a life of solitude. My laptop on its screensaver. These are for the younger generation. Long time ago, screens needed saving. And so you had this, the scrolling phrase or whatever on your laptop that would keep moving across the screen. And mine said, those destined for greatness must first walk alone in the desert. And so that's what I, that's what I did. I flew out to Arizona to live in the desert, to live a life of solitude.

It was that a period of obviously self-reflection and examination, but then is that what yielded your book? At that, was that a result of that time?

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Um, I didn't know, I had no intention to do any writing at all except for in my journal. Um, I just didn't know. And all I knew was I feel like I'm destined for something greater than this, and I want to make sure that I that I turn over every stone to figure out what that is, and that I don't come to the end of my life and realize that I hadn't fully lived. And I just didn't have anything that I was— could devote my life to that I was willing to live and die for. So I went there to go find that. And that's why I wanted it to be solitude. I knew my friends back in Vancouver, BC would say, oh, your life's great. We love you. Why would you ever change? And I had to get away from anyone that saw me as who I was. And because I needed to have a blank slate. And this is what I tell everybody, is that whenever you have a challenge or a problem, never start with your circumstances. Always start with, if anything was possible, what would I do? And work backwards from there.

Oh, I like that. Was— how did you know when the time was up?

Um, well, we had the, the book, uh, was, was, uh, I was full-time working on the book and And then the recession hit 2008, 2009. And I had bought a house at that time. And then I sold it. And so I went back to Vancouver. So I was there 2 and a half years. In that 2 and a half years, I remember one of the first or second New Year's Eve, I was in this empty house. I lived in the baseball academy for a few months, no showers, I would shower at the gym. And Eventually got a house and I'm in this empty house and I hear a noise and I go outside and I see fireworks and that was the first time I realized it was New Year's Eve. I, you know, every day was the same except for Sunday, I would go to church. And so I was really trying to limit my socializing and dating so I could just— and I knew if I had a TV, I would get the worst of all possible situations where I would be totally lonely and bored and I would waste it.

Yeah.

And so I knew I couldn't have the TV there. It's kind of like the phone today, you know, it's having so much wasted, so much time on the phone. It's, it's a dangerous thing, right?

So then, so you, you know, come out of the desert and you've got a manuscript, and then there's quite a story around your book in a variety of different kinds of ways. Double-check my research because I've read that you spent around 5 years in total of getting Inner Excellence put together. Is that about right? Or tell us what That's right. Okay.

That's right. Yeah. Good research. Yeah. 5 years full-time, 50, 60 hours a week, 5 years straight.

Wow. Well, and then, and I really enjoyed it and I'm going to, we're going to get into that. But then, um, it's, you know, we were talking off mic before, it's, you know, kind of anniversary time. So a little over a year or 13 months ago, um, week of January 12th, uh, 2025, a few things happened. Tell us, tell us about that.

Yeah, the book. I'm in Dallas, Texas on January 12th, and my mom was dying. She died January 16th. It was an answer to prayer. She was suffering. And so, but it was a somber time in my life. And business was slow. I actually hadn't— didn't pay off my credit cards in January for the first time in years. And so, and life was lonely. And I, you know, I've been doing this for a couple of decades now, coaching professional and Olympic athletes and leading international retreats. And it's, it's a travel on my own. So I'm in Dallas, walking around downtown Dallas, and I just written a book called The Best Possible Life. It actually gets released next month, re-released by Hachette Books when I signed the 3-book deal in February. And But I'd just written that book. And I look at the skyscraper. And now I realize, I think it was God asking me this question. But the thought comes to my mind, Jim, would you rather own that skyscraper straight out for whatever hundreds of millions of dollars it's worth? Or would you rather have written the book, The Best Possible Life on the spiritual life? The Best Possible Life has turned out to be like a summary of Inter Excellence written at the 7th grade reading level. So much shorter and easier to read book. More stories about the heart of Inner Excellence is the subtitle is Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life. And the key is best possible life, like why are you doing what you're doing? It's so you think it'll give you a great life. And so I thought, no, I wouldn't trade having written that book for hundreds of millions of dollars. And since I was low on funds, I mean, I had money in investments, but nothing, very little in my account. I was like, oh, well, that's pretty cool. You know, you're— at least you got that. And so that's Sunday afternoon. And then Sunday evening, I'm watching Notre Dame play bowl game that had already been played in the Then I get a text saying, hey, you should need to turn on the Eagles wildcard game against the Packers. I thought my mom died because I see all these texts. So I turn it on and I was like, oh wow, I think this is going to be significant. And it was, it was, yeah, right away. I start getting calls. TV station in LA, we need your book by tonight. Like this was like 9 o'clock at night. We need it like by 2 AM. And We're going to run a story first thing in the morning. And then, like, in the morning, it was mayhem. I couldn't keep up with the, like, texts, emails, everything, instant messages. There's no way I could keep up with the interviews. I asked AJ Brown's foundation manager to be my manager, and Carrie, and she, she did great. We worked together for a couple of weeks. And yeah, it was, it was intense. I remember one, one funny thing was So the following week, I get— it's actually probably 3 days, 3, 4 days later. So they win the wildcard game. AJ sends me a ticket to the next game. And I land in Philadelphia. And, you know, the interviews are like all day long. And as soon as I land, I'm in my rental car. And I talking to Carrie, and, and I said, um, should I take this interview right now? I've got an interview in 5 minutes. Should I just sit here in my, my rental car? And she's like, no, you gotta, you gotta drive. You gotta drive to the Eagles facility right now because they're all waiting for you, and just talk while you're driving. And so it was, um, I don't remember who it was, Major League Baseball or something serious, someone on SiriusXM. And so I'm talking to them while I'm driving. And then I'm pulling into the Eagles facility, and I said, hold on a second, I got to talk to the guard here. And they're like, uh, wait, what? Where are you right now? And I'm like, I'm just going into the Eagles. And they're like, oh my gosh, Jim Murphy's pulling into the Eagles facility as we speak! And I'm like, oh, they think that's cool. All right, um, I'm gonna introduce them to the guard here. So, uh, I think his name was Scott. I was like, hey Scott, you're, you're live on SiriusXM radio right now. You want to say hello? And so he says hello, and I pull into the parking lot, and there's a newscaster standing there waiting for me with the TV guy next to her.

Cameraman.

Cameraman, yeah, thank you. So they're standing there waiting for me and like, okay, you ready to go, Jim? And I was like, I just gotta go get my manager, Carrie had set me up with some Eagles gear. I gotta go run in and get it. And I get there I'm walking in and then Sal Palantonio from ESPN, he's been there for decades, and he's like, "Jim Murphy, oh my gosh, it's so great to see you." And I'm like looking over my shoulder like, "Who's he looking for? He must have me confused with somebody." Yeah, like, wow, I don't know if he has the right person here. Like I said, I'm just little Jimmy from Lake Young's Elementary. And he's like acting like I'm somebody big. And so I'm like, um, me? Okay, you want to talk to me? And I'm like, I, I gotta go talk to this lady, she's waiting for me with the news. And he's like, oh no, no, no, no, come on, you got to come in here and talk to me. They had the whole ESPN crew down there. AJ— they were going to set up a meeting with AJ Brown and I. They wanted to, um, to film it when we first meet. And so, um, I go in there and, uh, Sal's— we're talking and he's, he's telling me about his, his, uh all the years of his interviews and, you know, interviewing Muhammad Ali and all these great people. And he's like, this is one of the biggest interviews of my life. Wow. And I'm like, oh, that's cool. And I'm thinking, yeah, that's cool. They probably— he's talking about Muhammad Ali or whoever. And I'm just taking in this whole situation with the whole film crew there. And then I realized he's not talking about Muhammad Ali or whoever. He's talking about me and AJ. But it's not really computing. I'm like, what is happening?

Wow.

You know, I wrote the book 16 years ago, and it was in January 1 to 10, it sold 1 to 11, it sold 10 copies, less than a copy a day. And it's been out for 16 years. And so, wow, I'm not used to, I'm not used to this.

You're a 16-year overnight success, right? Yeah.

So he's so He's talking to me then. So I was like, okay, I gotta go, I gotta go talk to this news team waiting for me. So I go out and I do that interview. And then I come back in and now they're interviewing AJ Brown, and he's quoting from the book.

Oh, boy.

And the producers of ESPN don't want me in there listening because they want it to be organic. They don't want anything. For some reason, they don't want me to hear a word. And And so, but I sneak in there anyway, because I want to hear what he's saying. He's quoting my book, talking about this whole thing. And so I sneak in there in the back. I can't see him, but I'm listening. And then I get this little, hey, Jim, where are you right now? And I'm like, I'm just in the back. She's like, get out of there. And so I'm like, okay, okay, I'm gonna get out. And so they were really adamant. It has to be the first time meeting him. They wanted to film it. And so, so yeah, they filmed it and AJ was amazing and very gentle and humble. And yeah, it was really cool.

That is so cool. Well, and I want to take a quick little step back to be clear for people to know that AJ was sitting on the sideline, camera just sort of probably randomly, you know, picks him up and, you know, just kind of doing almost B-roll kinds of things when there isn't any action on the field. And there he is reading your book. Now, first of all, I don't know how many— whoever has seen anybody on the sidelines reading a book, you know, and then let alone that it could be tight enough, you know, that, you know, that, um, uh, you know, that they could see the title and then, you know, everything else cascades from that. And wasn't there also— I think I read in your newsletter a recent edition about like, did Snoop Dogg pick it up too or something and made a meme out of it? Or what, what was that?

Yeah, that was kind of cool.

So yeah.

So, things happen so fast. So, they, you know, becomes this huge story. And then, turns out that he'd been reading it before every game, like, for most of the year, if not all year long. And he said he would read it to get centered before the game. And then after every drive, he's on the sideline, he would read it to get recentered. And I didn't, I had no idea. I found out when everyone else found out. I saw a picture of him in uniform with the book about a month earlier, but it was just a photo. I had no idea. Was it Photoshopped? Was it—

what is he doing?

I don't know what's going on. So I just blew it off. And then turns out his teammate Mauro Ijomo, one of the defensive linemen that dominated the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, he gave it to AJ. And Mauro got it from the Athletes in Action rep, DJ Jarrettelli, at University of Texas where where Morrow went. And so, and then AJ, now it's become a— there's a couple of things that made this such a big moment. One, it was a wildcard game, the first playoff game, the only game going on Sunday night. AJ is one of the biggest stars in the NFL, maybe one of the best receivers in the NFL, and playing for the Eagles. The Eagles fans, I didn't even know this at the time. I played college football. I'm a football fan. The Eagles have the most intense fans of any team in the league. They're very, very intense and very, very loyal. And so, something big happens, they're on it. And this book was a big thing. And so they were on it. And so every game after that, like, fans are bringing the book to the games. They're carrying it in the streets. And they show AJ reading it every game and they win every game and then they win the Super Bowl and the fans in the Super Bowl have it in the stands. And yeah, it was crazy.

So was Snoop Dogg a big fan too? Or how did—

Oh, okay. And then we get to Snoop Dogg. So one of the things that happened was one of the TV stations said, we want to put, you know, Super Bowl commercials are famous, right, for They cost millions of dollars for 30 seconds, and everyone watches the halftime commercials. And so we got a request, my agent got a request to use Inner Excellence in a commercial. So I signed the request. And it was going to be, I think, a high school kid carrying the book down a hallway and just— and they didn't run it. I'm sure there's, you know, they have a lot of commercial ideas. And this was maybe one of the— came down to the end, but in the end, it got cut. And so that was That would have been such a big thing and was kind of disappointing. So then, you know, I signed the agreement. Yes, let's do this. Well, the NFL Honors, which happens the week of the Super Bowl in New Orleans. I was there for that Super Bowl. And I didn't go to the game, but I was there for 9 days and all week and doing interviews. And so the honors dinner, I'm sitting at the awards banquet dinner, not dinner, it's a gala. And I had signed an agreement saying, could the NFL use your book in a skit during the gala? And, you know, but it didn't go on the Super Bowl commercial. And so I was like, yeah, sure you can. And then, so then they do a skit, and I'm not a big celebrity guy. So I got there, like my agent said, I get there an hour or two early, and, and everyone else is trying to get selfies. And I'm just sitting in the in the auditorium just waiting. And then they finally, they start the show and they do a skit and they didn't tell me it was gonna be Snoop Dogg. All they said is, can you do this? Can we, you know, have this for a skit? I said, sure. And so they do a skit, but there is no Inner Excellence. And so I'm like, okay, this is probably like the Super Bowl, it's not going to happen. And so I'm starting to think, you know what, would I rather be watching this on my TV in my hotel room or sitting right here at Twelfth Row Center with all these celebrities? And I'm like, I think I'd rather be in my hotel room. And then I thought, you know what, I would probably wouldn't even be watching this. I'd probably be sending emails out. And so that's how I felt after that first skit. And then Snoop Dogg came on. And I'm like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. So there was a break, and then after intermission, you know, they opened the curtain and there's Snoop Dogg sitting on the stage with my book in his hand, and they do a whole skit on it. He was, he was like, oh, sorry, I'm just, uh, sitting here reading, uh, catching up on my inner excellence. And then they, they said, Josh Allen, he's reading books too. And then they show Josh Allen, and then, you know, a bunch of people.

Oh gosh, I, I just love that. That is just so charming and Cinderella. Golly, that is just so cool. That is so cool. Well, I think this teases us up very nicely because now we can kind of do a full-throated dig into the book. But before that, with all this, you know, faldera around it, I want to read a few things, a few reviews of what some others have had to say about it. So Vaughn Taylor, 3-time PGA Tour winner, said about your book, "Inner Excellence changed how I see the world." how I think, and how I play golf. Brandon Parsons, PGA Tour veteran caddie, said, "Inner Excellence transformed my life as a caddie, father, and husband. This book is a masterpiece." Teddy Scott, PGA Tour golf caddie to world number 1 Scottie Scheffler, said, "Inner Excellence is an instruction manual that will teach you how to perform under pressure and live the best possible life. It's something I'll refer to for the rest of my life." And Ryan Dodd, world number 1 ranked water ski jumper and current world record holder, said Inner Excellence changed my life. And also in my research, I saw that on Amazon you have, as last tally, an average of 4.7 out of 5 out of 3,751 reviews. So man, all high praise, Jim, and well deserved. So bravo.

Thank you very much. I really, you know, there's a book in the book, Best Possible Life, that's coming out. There's a section called the Michael Phelps model. It's the 98.2 model about Michael Phelps. And the idea is Michael Phelps won 23 Olympic gold medals, more than most countries have ever won in their history. And so Who gets the credit for that? God or Michael? Um, uh, the universe or Michael? Um, and so let's look at if you were to divide it up into 100% credit, how much would the universe or God get, and how much would Michael get if you were to be accurate? And of course, there's no way to know exactly, but I think it's a very good thought, um, processor and question. And, uh, so in the book I say it's, it's, um, in my opinion, Michael definitely deserves a lot of credit because, um, you know, he went 5 years Legend has it 5 years without missing a workout. And so I believe he deserves 2% credit and God 98%.

Yeah.

And so because every single thing that he did was a gift, there's all these gifts given to him that allowed him to do everything, having a mind that was motivated, a body that could swim fast and a pool to swim in, all these different things. The country he was born in, the century, And so, um, if Michael Phelps at most deserves 2% credit in my mind for what he did, um, yeah, this is nothing for me to, to, uh, um, say anything about.

I appreciate that. Yeah, I think it's, it's, it's very interesting in the context too of having that kind of appreciation, because I think there's so many people in the world that, you know, don't have that kind of respect or that kind perspective, you know, and just become very narcissistic around it and, you know, kind of, you know, start reading their own publicity, you know, as the, as the joke goes. So I want to, I want to get into some of the philosophical things that both books deal with, but I have to put on my nerd hat here just for a second. So longtime listeners know that I like to talk a lot about book mechanics and things, and sometimes it's a design aspect of the book or, you know, certain kinds of technical things that the author or the publishing house did. One of the things I'm kind of curious about yours, just so to— albeit a little superficial in what we're going to get into— did you— this book has a— the Inner Excellence book has an interesting publishing backstory because you talk about the 16 years that it was out, etc. Did you buy back the rights and then self-publish, or did you resell the rights after it was a New York Times bestseller? What was all the machinations behind how that happened and what you did and how you went about doing it?

Yeah, I got the— I published with McGraw-Hill initially in 2009. And then I don't know how many books it sold in that time. I got the rights back around 2018. My guess, if I were to guess, it would be about 6,000 or 7,000 copies. People would ask me, how many books has it sold? How's it doing? And I never knew because I never really tracked it. I just said, All I know is that it's not a New York Times bestseller at the time. And so I had an affirmation on my phone that I'm a New York Times bestselling author. I had that for, I don't know, years probably. And so that was about 2018. I got the rights to it for free. And it wasn't really selling much.

Oh, really? Yeah.

2020, I didn't really— you can still get it on Amazon. It's a red and white cover, a guy balancing on some nails in a business suit. They wanted to put it in the business section and and I had no control over the COVID And so I said, yeah, put in the business section. And, you know, I didn't like the COVID Yeah, I wanted the COVID similar to what it has now. And so 2018, I thought, you know, I'm going to republish and put it on the COVID that I want. And, uh, um, so that came out in 2020. And initially I thought it was going to be just about a 10-15% rewrite, but it turned out to be, um, significant amount of rewriting. Same concepts, but, um, hopefully I became a little bit of a writer over the years and Yeah, so that came out in 2020.

Gotcha.

Self-published.

Got— wow, good for you. Becoming a New York Times bestseller of a self-published book is, is pretty amazing. So, and I have one final question before we get into the meat and potatoes. Um, how do you know how AJ came across it?

Yeah, he got it from his teammate Morrow.

Oh, from Morrow. Oh, okay. And, and Morrow, because he knew you or, or of you?

He got it from DJ Jarrettelli.

Okay, University of Texas. Thank you. Gotcha. Gotcha. Thank you. Okay, good. So let's, let's get into that. So a lot of the, you know, you make a key point, I think, that a lot of us, myself included, in Western culture played kind of the wrong game, that we're working hard to be successful, to get better results, to get, you know, better circumstances, better living situations, whatever that might be. And we think that all those kinds of things will lead to the better life for ourselves and for our families, almost kind of like maybe a variation on your point about being in Dallas and seeing that skyscraper and, you know, thinking, what, you know, of these, if I had two choices, what would I pick? But the problem I think that you talk about is that we can spend our whole life, you know, trying to be successful, whatever with air quotes successful means to that person, and really not get what we want, which might really be a more, you know, spiritual, fulfilling, meaningful life, having amazing experiences as you talk about, deep enriching relationships with others, and then feeling more alive. So could you maybe unpack that in terms of what the book says and your general philosophy about that, Jim?

Yeah, I always thought the best possible life was where I'm going to have really, really great circumstances and really great results, and then I'm going to have a lot of money and people are going to adore me, and I'm going to have a beautiful wife and kids and That's going to be it. That's going to be my life. And I realized, and this is kind of what I do with every client, is I wanted to live, to feel fully alive and pursue absolute fullness of life. And I realized that if you pursue fullness of life first, foremost, primary, then everything else is added to you. But if you pursue, I just want to be the best at whatever it is first, there's way too much out of your control, then it becomes very stressful, intense. And so Inner Excellence is about developing the whole person first. And because you don't even know what's best for you, you can spend your whole life, say, I want to be the best electrical engineer in the world, and I know exactly what I want to do, I want to build these rocket ships. And then that may not be the best thing for you. Even though that's— we don't know what's best for us. Like, you can have your 10 best, your your 10 hopes and dreams, biggest goals of your life, and the 10 biggest fears. And those could be flip-flops. The 10 dreams could be the worst thing for you, and the 10 fears could be the best. And so since we don't know what's best for us, we— instead of holding tightly onto, um— and I'm a performance coach, I get paid to help people to perform the best of their lives. And so I'm not saying don't go for your dreams. I'm saying since you don't know what's best for you, go for your real dream. Which is to feel fully alive. And that means to develop the whole person, which means to develop your heart.

And you, I think, have said in the book, with leading with the heart is then letting go of the mind. Is that vis-à-vis ego, or what do you think about that?

Yeah, we use the mind to train the heart. And the mind, I talk about in the book, I call it the trickster. This is a John Kehoe term. He wrote a great book called Mind Power into the 21st Century. And yeah, we have this part of our mind that lies to us, can't even trust our own mind. And so we need to understand that you are not your mind. Your mind is a part of you that needs to be trained. And psychology is great. I use that with all my clients. But psychology is far too limiting. We need to get farther than the mind. We need to get into the subconscious, And we need to get to the heart because that's where everything happens. Everything that you think, feel, say, do, it comes from your heart and subconscious. And everything that you read, watch, listen to, people you spend time with, all those thoughts, that energy is all going into your heart and subconscious. And so that's why Inner Excellence has 9 disciplines. And one of those is to feel your heart.

And in that context, is that then— I mean, it almost seems like a reciprocal kind of aspect of like having greater presence and, and fearlessness helps, you know, support that, and having that then also helps to be more present and mindful and, and selfless, right? I mean, is that sort of the— you know, it's a, it's a, it's a dynamism, it goes up like a back and forth. Does that make sense?

Yeah. The number one thing about you is your energy. And this is if you want to be great at anything, it's your state all day long. There's a vibration in the universe that I think of as love that grows the grass and spins the earth. And it's a power that's far beyond all of us. And if you can align yourself with that power, then you've got power. But the hard thing is you have to surrender your little power for its ultimate power.

And it's that surrendering that then helps make a situation to be able to feel that depth of love and to have that level of presence and selflessness?

Yeah, I'll give you an example. One of the hardest things to do is surrender your need to be right. So as humans, I've never experienced this, but I've heard other people have experienced this. Really?

Me neither. Me neither. You're right, Joe. You're right about that, Joe.

Yeah, so it's one of the hardest things is surrender the need to be right. And the way it all works is that our deepest need is for love and acceptance. And if someone says I'm wrong, or I think they think I'm wrong, then I don't want to lose my sense of self. That's number one is who I am is, you know, if I'm gone, then I'm gone. And so I need to maintain my sense of self. Which means when people think I'm wrong, and I have to make sure that I don't look bad, or I don't look wrong, because then I lose a part of myself. And that's, that's the big fallacy. And because that's the big mistake is constantly defending self, whereas the problem is self getting in the way. And when you're selfless, you're fearless. When you're in your very best, there's no thoughts of self, no concern for self. Self fades into the background.

Gotcha. In your book too, you talk about, um, maybe we can kind of start to deconstruct or unpack some of these, the, the three principles of inner excellence, and that, uh, you know, everything is here to teach me, to help me, and is working for my good. Did that come from the time alone in the desert, or how did you come to develop that? And maybe talk more about that.

Yeah, what happened in the desert is I realized— at first I wanted to write the best book ever written on mental toughness for pro athletes, pro baseball players specifically. Then I realized it's for all athletes, and then I realized it's not for athletes, it's for all of us. We all have challenges, we all have a mind that lies to us, we all have limiting beliefs and negative thoughts and a single story for our life. My life should go like this. And so I realized The heart is the key to your life. But how do we train the heart? I've never read the Train Your Heart manual. So I was like, man, what do I do? And then I realized that this is a spiritual path that we're on. And training the heart is the most important thing you'll ever do. And we have this ego that's— that we all have this part of our mind that's always threatened, always comparing, never satisfied. And which I call the ego. It may not be the same definition as Freud or anyone else, but that's— it's so important to define terms. So we're all— we're talking about the same thing. And that's how I define ego. And so learning to shape your environment so that you're constantly being fed empowering things is so important, because in the end, the big goal is to love most what's most empowering.

I really like that. That really resonates with me. I think, you know, in both the books, I mean, you talk about, you know, courage, and you, you know, you also very positively say, you know, we can all be courageous. And I like that, you know, I like that better than like a lot of the other stuff that tends to be a little bit more pablum-like, you know, of, you know, grit or, you know, and embrace the suck or whatever. I mean, I get all that, and we all do all that, you know, at different times. But I think when you kind of frame, you know, I think some people maybe disconnect, you know, I'm not a courageous kind of person, you know, or, you know, I'm, I, you know, I have all these foibles, I have all these problems, I have all these neuroses. But I think one of the things I got from both your books in, in different ways was, um, you know, the ability to see courage as an act of love of, um, not necessarily— I mean, there's probably a, you know, a sprinkling of, you know, you might think of bravery or something like that. But how— tell us, you maybe, you know, fill in the gaps about what you think about courage and how that— how we can start to apply that, and our listeners, myself included, can apply that in our daily lives.

Yeah, I think everyone's courageous when it comes down to something that— what they love most is threatened. It's the— I think there's an interesting quote. Mikaela Shiffrin just won Olympic gold medal, the skier, and she said something about confidence and belief. And she said that belief is more important than confidence. And I believe this is 100% true. Confidence is definitely overrated. Belief is super important. And so the way I think about confidence and define confidence is confidence is a term in psychology that they call self-efficacy. And that's where the feeling that I can accomplish a task, I can do this thing, I can make this free throw or this putt or whatever. And so as a performance coach, I was surprised when these Some of the best athletes in the world tell me they want more confidence. But I've realized over the years that confidence is great, but what's even more powerful than confidence is to be fully present. And belief is underlined. So belief is a subconscious comfort level with what you feel is possible in your life. And so if you feel the greatest confidence is to feel that you're going to be good no matter what. And I don't know how you feel that without faith in God, but if you can, that's great. But to feel that, that no matter what happens with this outcome, with this season, that I'm going to be fine, that's the most confidence that you can have. Because what happens is people get so caught up in transactions every day, like, and just reacting emotionally. And this is the problem. We need to constantly pull ourselves out of this, what I call the third world, third world of results and circumstances, and into the first world of what's eternal and true and capital T true. Otherwise, we're going to live a life of frustration and anxiety.

Wow. It reminds me a bit of Arthur Brooks, and he talks a lot about meaning. And I think one of his things is—

he's great.

Yeah, big fan. And like, you know, his thing, kind of like a— I don't know if it's a litmus test or what, but you know, like a thing to almost like a meditative cone or something of why were you born and what are you willing to die for? And I kind of think about that as you've just now been talking, that same kind of thing about, you know, what is it that you're willing to be courageous about too? And, you know, there's the enjoyment, satisfaction, and purpose. So how do those kinds of things relate or reconcile with some of the things that— how you, you know, view the world and people's actions within it with your philosophy and principles?

You know who's also great is David Brooks. Sometimes I get those guys confused.

Yeah.

But so, yeah, my personal— my purpose is to share God's love, wisdom, and courage with the world, and especially athletes and leaders. But so what I try to do is every night, before I go to bed, that's what I want on my mind. And every morning when I wake up, that's what I want on my mind. And I want to make every decision through my purpose. It's kind of like this rule of life. And if you don't have a purpose beyond yourself, then life is going to be really, really hard. Yeah, because there's just way too much out of your control.

It, it's almost— that's a very Stoic kind of philosophy too, I think, you know. And it's almost like the you know, with Alcoholics Anonymous to the Serenity Prayer. I mean, there's a, you know, I think these things are— there's almost a universality to these kinds of concepts and things that I think are very easy, you know, in our modern-day times to forget about. And maybe as a little bit of a way to segue back to your earlier part of the conversation and your family, I believe— again, double-check my research— you've talked about like the code of the samurai: love, wisdom, and courage. And you have a great-great-great— I don't know how many greats there is to it— grandfather that was a samurai. Is that— fact-check me— is that correct? Tell us, tell us about that.

Yeah, yeah, I'm descendant of, uh, samurai. My mom's, uh, lineage, she's full Japanese, and they were samurai. And so, um, when the samurai ended 150 years ago or so, uh, the samurai in our family, he was devastated because they had all this power. And when he lost his power, he lost his identity, you know, very, very common thing. And then he became an alcoholic. And his grandson— I mean, his son, my great-grandfather, was watching this unfold. And he was like, man, there must be more meaning to life than this, the pursuit of power. And, and so then he just started looking deeply at spirituality and gave his life to God and decided to devote his life to empowering others rather than seeking power over others. And, um, and so I'm part of the byproduct of that. Do you—

I mean, it almost seems like it's kind of in your DNA because it certainly seems like there's, you know, aspects of this that you, you know, put into the, you know, your, your daily, you know, living of life and your perspectives and your philosophies and things. I think that, you know, you talk about authenticity you know, with, with who you are as a person and even just looking at it in the context of lineage. Um, I want to shift gears a little bit, and I know, you know, you and I talked about this off mic beforehand, but I think it's, you know, it's important for our listeners too. You publicly talked about a recent health scare. You had gone, I think, maybe to Istanbul and had a, you know, kind of a head-to-toe, you know, biological testing of, you know, how you're doing and for 2 days and whatnot. First of all, did I— fact-check me on that. Is that correct? And then tell us what happened by the process of doing that and what's happened since.

Yeah, that's true. I, as a performance coach, I teach mental skills, but it's really about training the heart. And, but in the end, pro athletes hire me to perform better. And if they don't perform better, then they will move on. And so I, with my background in human kinetics, I've always been being a personal trainer, I've always been very interested in training the whole person. And always looking for how can we improve myself and my clients in every way. And so I found this clinic in Istanbul that this hospital, Memorial Hospital in Istanbul, where you can go and get tested in everything, and it's a fraction of the price. And so I went out there to go do that, and I spent 15 hours and over 2 days. That is great setup. They pick you up at your hotel and they take you right to the hospital, and then as soon as you get there, there's an interpreter waiting for you. Mine was Dorian. He took— takes me— he's like, okay, now we're going to the dentist, now we're going to the dermatologist, now you got a stress test with the cardiologist. Wow. And so yeah, it was, it was amazing. And then they said, we found an ultrasound, I did an MRI and ultrasounds and the ultrasound of my thyroid. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's hypothyroid about 10 years ago. And during the ultrasound, they said, we found a nodule on your thyroid, we're going to take a biopsy. And so they took a biopsy. So that was— I flew out there January 8th. But there was the first— one of the first miracles was I had no symptoms and so I'm flying out there more for research. For you, Dr. Stout, and so, and anyone else listening to this. But I got to Valencia an hour and a half from my place in Spain. I'm a resident of Spain now and I'm staying at a friend's house in Valencia and I get there and there's a text says, oh, your flight's canceled. And I was like, oh, and then there's no flights out of Valencia anymore. And I need to be there the next day. And Madrid's 2.5 hours away. And I was like, oh, maybe I'll cancel. And my friend says, you know what, it's an easy train ride. I'll take you to the train station. And had he not said that, I probably would have canceled and probably wouldn't have gone to do this. It could have been a year or two. You know, who knows how long? Because I'm a busy guy. And so I fly out there, I do this. Um, and then, um, January 20th, I'm in New York City and it's time for my— they get the diagnosis. And so I'm in my hotel room, 8 AM, and it's my assistant Ryan and the interpreter and the surgeon. And he's like, hey, we're here to talk about your, um, the findings from your biopsy. And I say, okay, cool. And he said, um, it's malignant, um, some sort of carcinoma or whatever. We have to take out your whole thyroid and, uh and then you got to do radioactive iodine, and this has to happen right away. And I was like, oh, malignant, like you mean it's cancer? He's like, yes. And so after that, it was kind of a blur. Wow. And so that was January 20th. So just a few weeks ago. And, you know, there's a mirror in front of the laptop, and I'm staring at the mirror, and we hang up. I'm like, okay, and stare at the mirror. And obviously, this is a big moment with God and I. And, you know, I think I probably stared in the mirror for probably a minute and just silence. And it was like, I guess it was just like a big moment in my life. Like, how am I going to respond? What's going to happen next? What am I going to do? And many ways, I feel that, that God was preparing me for my whole life for that moment, and in this moment now. And so I was like, okay, okay, God, this is real. Let's go. And I've always kind of had this mantra that I want to fully live or die, be ready to fully live or die at a moment's notice. In other words, I always want to be able to capture wisdom from an 8-year-old or an 88-year-old or a homeless person. I want to recognize it quickly. And, and if it's time for me to die, and give up my life for someone else, I want to be, have the courage to do that. And so this was one of those moments. But now I didn't have full insurance in the, in the States. And I was like, okay, what do I do? Like, do I fly to Istanbul where they don't speak English? Do I go to Spain where I'm a resident, but I don't know how long it would take to get surgery? Or in the States, you know, it could be $100,000. And so, so many different questions. And then, and then the miracle doctor was this. I call— well, I don't have time to tell all the miracles, but, um, I had, uh, um, flown into Atlanta, Georgia on the 15th, and, uh, um, because I thought I might have a keynote in Savannah, and so, and I wanted to go, um, be on the East Coast to go meet some clients, and, and so I just decided to go to Atlanta while I was waiting. For my meeting. It turns out there's a CEO named Kelly, who was the CEO of Hillpoint Real Estate. And I just did an Inner Excellence retreat with him and his leadership team in October. And it was, it was an extraordinary time. He ended up flying me in his jet to Florida and offered me some land to develop the Inner Excellence retreat center. It was amazing. Experience with his leadership team and him. And so I was there, I was in Atlanta, I was like, oh, I think Kelly's here. So I said, hey, you want to go for dinner? We go for dinner. And then we set up a meeting with more of his leadership team to do some subconscious work where we remove painful memories from anyone. And so they no longer can be a mental block. So we set that up for the first week of February, just a few weeks ago. And then January 20th happens, and I called him. I said, hey, we need— we might need to reschedule. And he says, let me call my doctor. He calls his doctor and sets me up with, uh, one of the world's leading thyroid centers in Tampa, Florida, and one of the leading surgeons in the world. All they do is thyroid surgery. He, uh, it gets it done in, in 2 weeks, surgery, everything done. And they said it's going to cost $30,000. And then he said, I'll pay for it.

Oh my gosh, Jim, that, that all happens 2 weeks from diagnosis to surgery.

Diagnosis January 20th, surgery February 3rd. And then on top of that, another miracle— zero pain. Oh, like I've got a big zipper across my neck right now. It's like 3, 4 inches long, and, and, uh, it's no pain the whole time. And, uh, another miracle.

Wow. Jim, man, I am speechless. That is amazing. Oh, thank God. That is just amazing.

Wow.

Gosh.

Yeah. So the question is, like, what's going on here? What happened? Is God with you or not?

Like, what is this thing? Those percentages, you know, man, with the milk example, man. Yeah.

And so I, I have this book coming out next, next month, and I'm— I really think that book's going to change lives all over the world. It's so much easier to read than Inner Excellence. It's much shorter and, um, I think more powerful.

Yeah. Well, and I like—

and I think— go ahead.

Yeah, I was just gonna say, I like the, the story, uh, way that you went about doing it too. So, but I didn't mean to interrupt your flow of thought. Sorry.

Yeah. And I think, I think it's, um God is preparing me for that. And if you want to do something great in the world, especially align yourself with the creator of the universe, then you need to have a certain level of an accurate view of self, which I define humility as an accurate view of self.

Yeah.

And to realize that life is very, very short and it may not last through the day. And when you can remember that— this is a very samurai idea, inner excellence idea— when you can remember that you may not live through the day, then then you can be more present.

Yeah, that— I mean, it's so true and really poetic with that too. And again, just reminds me of, you know, how the, the Stoics looked at that as well too, the momento mori kind of philosophy. So, um, I have a few other things I want to segue into, and maybe this also kind of teases us up nice for that, but I want to be, um, you know, cognizant of your time. Do you have a little bit more time for—

yeah, yeah, good.

Good. So, um, the, the, the nice segue of this is that you also, and you just now said with this experience there in, in Georgia, that, um, you know, having a center and having someone, you know, support the, the foundation, the Inter-Excellence Freedom Project. I know that a percentage of your royalties of Inner Excellence, the sales, book sales, goes to build houses in Mexico. And I know that in your newsletters, which we talked about off mic, that I really, you know, respect and admire, of requesting prayers for humanitarian crises around the world, like Venezuela and genocides in Sudan and Syria and Yemen. And I just want to publicly thank you, you know, for doing that and keeping it on, you know, people's awareness, because those are easy things to miss and easy things for people to quickly forget about if it's, you know, not happening, you know, in their backyard. It's happening in the backyard of their world. So, and you've also said— I love this, I wrote it down to talk to you about— that the poor, that we need the poor more than the poor need us. So maybe in the context of all these humanitarian involvements that you have, tell us about how that all started. Tell us about what it is that you're doing with the Freedom project and how people can get involved with that.

Yeah, it's, um, my— I work with an amazing organization called Youth With A Mission. Um, they have a division called Homes of Hope. It's a Christian organization, and the Homes of Hope, um, builds houses for families all over the world in 2 days. And, uh, the organization has no No one takes a salary, not even— there's no CEO that makes a million dollars a year. Every single person in the organization is all volunteer, paid by donations that they get. Each person solicits their own. And so I had first built my first house probably 23 years ago, 24 years ago. And it all started with— I'm I'm in church and I'm talking to my friend Ramona, and I was like, you know what, I need more people that are going the direction that I want to go. I need more people that believe in God and are Christians. And she said, write it in your journal and pray about it. So I just wrote a quick little note in my journal, and, dear God, please bring me more Christian friends. Amen. And then a few weeks later, there's this opportunity to go build a house in Mexico with another church and our church. And so I went and From that, that was 2002. So in 24 years, I still have lifelong friends from that one prayer and church house build. And in fact, the leader of that expedition is now my spiritual mentor, Nick Osborne.

Wow.

And, uh, yes, um, so that was incredible. And so that was the first house we built. And then, um, and then my friend David Bentall, 10, 12 years ago, He's in Vancouver, BC. He goes every year, every November, to build a house with Youth With A Mission and invited me, and then I started to go with him every year. And then I just started to ask, you know, what can we do more? How can I get more involved? And I lead InterExcellence retreats around the world with corporate retreats and pro athletes and executives. But most people wouldn't be able to afford one. And so I thought, what if I these Inner Excellence, I mean, the YWAM house builds, build a house start to finish in 2 days. They're life-changing.

Yeah.

And it's, and you need no experience. It's for anybody. And you could, you could bring your kids. It's, they're amazing. And so I thought, what if I combine an Inner Excellence retreat with the house build? We did it together, add an extra full day for the retreat. And then people can do both. And get their lives changed and do it for a fraction of the cost they normally would.

Perfect! That's brilliant!

So now we do it twice a year. The next one's coming up in April. It's in Ensenada or Tijuana, Mexico, and they just had all the violence in Port of Irda.

Yeah!

And so there's a lot of fear there. But what I told my team is that two things. One, life on the ground in Ensenada has not changed. And so it's— Ensenada is on the West Coast, so it's not near there. And we're going to obviously, we're going to monitor it closely. But two, the poor are still going to need their houses. That's not going to change. And so, and in the end, if you believe in God, then I told my friend, you're like, I'm safer if God wants me to go, I'm safer with him in the hands of a drug dealer or cartel boss than I am in my own hometown. Yeah. Um, and so it's been an amazing experience, these house builds. So thanks for asking.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I tip of the hat to that. So, you know, Jim, we've covered a lot of territory, um, in, in areas, and, you know, you have an amazing life and an amazing set of stories. Is there anything that we've missed or anything that you'd to add before we wrap?

Well, I think right now the world is filled with fear. There's so much anxiety and fear and out of control and things out of control. And, and so many people that identify as Christians that are very antagonistic and judgmental. And I want the listeners to know that, that there's hope, and that you can live an extraordinary life filled with, with deep contentment, joy and confidence today, no matter what your situation. And it's not circumstance dependent. It's about surrendering your life to a power that's greater than you, filled with love, and then from that comes joy.

Beautifully said. Thank you. So what's next? You had mentioned the Hachette deal with— I believe my research— again, correct me, fact-check me. Do you have a 3-book deal? Are you— you have more ideas in the works, or is it, uh, just focused on The Best Possible Life revision?

Yeah, that's right. So a year ago, Valentine's Day, signed a 3-book deal with Hachette Inner Excellence. So they took the self-published book and, and that got republished, um, April 29th, okay, 2025. And then The Best Possible Life, which I self-published, uh, in November of 2024, that is getting republished next month. March 31st. You can pre-order on Amazon. And then, um, and then the third book is the Inner Excellence 90-Day Challenge Workbook. And so that's the project we're working on now. If anyone wants to be a part of it, um, we're taking beta testers. And so the idea is we're going to take all the most powerful concepts in Inner Excellence and in 90 days, uh, um, change your life.

Wow. Well, Well, that, that tees me up nicely. You're very good about teeing up my next question. So, uh, for listeners that, uh, want to be involved in that project, want to learn more about you, want to learn more about the Freedom Project, uh, get your books, subscribe to your Substack, volunteer, what are some of the best ways to do that? And we'll put that in the show notes for folks.

Yeah, sign up for my newsletter, go to innerexcellence.com and sign up for the VIP newsletter, or go to Substack, either way. Um, I'll be doing, uh, live, uh, Q&A, um, Q&As regularly, uh, several times a month for all the $7 a month paid subscribers. Great. Um, but getting the newsletter is the number one way. I'm also on, on social media, Inter Excellence Jim Murphy on Instagram, etc.

Okay, good. We will put that all in the show notes. So, well, hey, I, um, I just again want to thank you so much for taking the time to be I've just really enjoyed it. I've been so looking forward to it. And just again, your, your story, your work, uh, from whence you've come and the things that you're going to be doing in the future, just, uh, I think make so much— such a difference in the world. And, you know, you're, you're very generous with all the things that you do to, to make things better for so many people. I just want to publicly thank you for that too, Jim.

Thank you so much, Dr. Stout. Thanks for having me, and, uh, God bless you.

Thank you. As a reminder, listeners can read a summary of this episode and access links to the show notes via my LinkedIn Top Voice companion article, along with past guests as well. I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I have, and I hope it will help you in your journey to living your life in full. Until next time. Living a Life in Full is a production of Stout Media, a subsidiary of Gordian Knot, LLC. Assistant producer, Gracie Wong. Music, Dan O'Brien. Executive producer and host, Dr. Chris Stout. To learn more, stop by our website at LifeinFull for show notes. And please recommend us to your friends and subscribe on your favorite platform. And as for the obligatory disclaimer, this podcast is for general information uses only and does not constitute the practice of psychology, medicine, nutrition, or other professional healthcare services, including the giving of medical or psychological advice. No doctor-patient relationship is formed. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I take conflicts of interest Seriously, for all of my disclosures as well as show notes, please see livingalifeinfull.org/podcast and my LinkedIn profile. Thanks, and until next time.