After AJ Brown helped his book reach number one on Amazon’s bestseller list, “Inner Excellence” author Jim Murphy spoke with NBC10 about how it came to be and how it caught the Eagles superstar’s attention in the first place.

In an interview with NBC10’s Frances Wang on Monday night, Murphy said “Inner Excellence” was inspired by his personal journey after getting rid of more than half of his possessions.

“Two and a half years in the desert. On the first New Year I lived a life of solitude, and on my first New Year I didn’t know what day it was. I hear noises. I’m alone in my room and in an empty house, writing in my diary about New Year’s Eve. “I hear a noise, go outside and see fireworks,” Murphy said. “And that’s when I found out it was December 31st. It was a very lonely, lonely time and I worked at it for five years, I spent my savings and was $90,000 in debt. And I didn’t know if anyone but my mother would ever read it. So it was lonely and scary. Yes.”

Murphy said that fear helped him develop the book’s main theme.

“The thesis for Inner Excellence is that egocentricity is the greatest challenge we face in performance and in life. It leads to fear. And selflessness is fearless,” he said. “The essence of Inner Excellence is how you develop, every day, the habits of thought and action around the person you want to become and what matters most to you, and how you fully express yourself with your heart, mind, and spirit Body can engage with it in the moment and regardless of your results, which are always temporary and always in the past and future.”

Murphy said his book eventually caught the attention of DJ Giaritelli, a theological consultant with ties to the University of Texas at Austin, where Eagles defensive tackle Moro Ojomo played college football.

“He gave the book to Moro Ojomo. And Moro went to the Eagles and Moro gave it to AJ,” Murphy said.

Murphy said he was aware that AJ Brown was reading his book before Sunday’s wild-card game against the Packers.

“I knew he read the book and he had the book,” Murphy said. “I saw it on the sidelines recently and thought, ‘Oh, that’s really cool.’ Little did I know that he brought it to every game and read it after every trip. This is really great.”

Eagles fans everywhere watched as Brown was caught on camera reading the book during Sunday’s game. After the game, while in the locker room, Brown said the book gave him a “sense of peace.” That inspired Eagles fans to find the book on Amazon and shower it with five-star reviews, catapulting it to number one on the bestseller list.

“I’m really excited for Eagles fans to get it and for people across America to learn the same things that I’m working on, that he’s working on,” Murphy said.

Murphy told NBC10 that he was already an Eagles fan before Brown took his book to new heights.

“I’m an Eagles fan. Secure. What’s interesting is that in the last year I have a connection to Philadelphia that I didn’t have before. “A group of Penn State wrestling alumni reached out to me,” Murphy said. “They’re building a multimillion-dollar leadership training center in Lititz, an hour and a half west of Philadelphia, and they want to use Inner Excellence as their leadership training program. When asked if I was interested, I replied that not only would I be interested, but I would also be interested in making it an Inner Excellence headquarters. And so I could be in Philly for quite a while in the future.”

Murphy also has a new book, which he just finished last November. It’s called “The Best Possible Life.”

“It’s like a summary of ‘Inner Excellence’ based on the Bible,” Murphy said.

Eagles fans are certainly living their best lives as the Birds continue to tap into their inner strength during their playoff run.