Apparently the book, Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance by Jim Murphy skyrocketed to Amazon's best seller list over the last few weeks. Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver (and now Super Bowl Champion) A.J. Brown was caught reading the book on the sidelines during a recent NFL game. Brown told reporters that reading the book helped him reset and refocus himself between game drives. He told ESPN's Sal Paolantonio, "It just spoke to me because certain challenges I face as an athlete keep recurring in my career. And it's not like tough challenges but on the mental side."
Brown further explained that he reads the book regardless of what happened the previous drive. In other words, no matter if he catches a pass and scores a touchdown or if he drops the ball, he will still go back to the sidelines and open up the book and read. He wrote on X, "This game is 90% mental and 10% physical for me. I bring it to every game and I read it between each drive. I use it to refocus and lock in despite what may transpire in the game good or bad."
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni both defends and applauds the practice. He told a Philadelphia morning sports talk show, "I'm definitely OK with it. The crazy thing is, he's been reading this book on the sideline for a long time. It just so happened a camera saw it this week. Some guys pray in between, some guys meditate in between. A.J. reads in between. Whatever these guys need to do to put their mind in a place where they can play with great detail and great effort, I fully encourage them to do that."
I absolutely loved this story when I first heard about it. As the author Lemony Snicket once said, "Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them." What book do you carry around that helps you to refocus and reset?
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