Unleash Your Inner Champion: 7 Keys to Peak Performance Through Imagination and Visualization

The most powerful visualization mindset is to expect abundance in your daily life - “something incredible is about to happen” - while letting go of attachments and needs for certain things to happen - “I expect nothing; I can handle anything”.

Jim Murphy - INNER EXCELLENCE, Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life


AJ Brown calmly reading a book during the NFL Wild Card Game set off a media chat storm, but what exactly was he reading? It turns out the book, Inner Excellence by Jim Murphy, offers powerful tips that can help everyone perform better. The best athletes not only strengthen their bodies for peak performance, but also cultivate a mindset that thrives under pressure. Here are 7 Keys for Inner Excellence.

1. Cultivate Empowering Beliefs: The Foundation of Your Reality

Your life is a reflection of your beliefs. What you believe about yourself and what's possible directly shapes your reality. Beliefs are the control panel of your life, a subconscious thermostat. To harness the power of your imagination, you must first identify and challenge limiting beliefs. Replace them with empowering ones through affirmations and visualization. Remember that the world is flat if you believe it is, so changing your beliefs is essential.

2. Harness the Power of Priming: Shaping Your State

The environment you create for yourself has an immense impact on your state. Objects that come through your field of vision affect you immensely. Use positive images, words, and symbols to prime your mind for success. Create a collage of your goals or use affirmations to keep you focused on your dreams. By shaping your environment, you create a space that fosters positive thoughts and feelings.

3. Master the Art of Visualization: Seeing is Believing

Visualization is more than just seeing a picture in your mind; it's about feeling the emotions associated with that picture. To maximize the power of visualization, the book suggests:

• Feel the Tingling Excitement: Visualize your goals and dreams daily with the aim of feeling a tingling feeling of excitement for at least one second.

• Focus on Presence, Not Perfection: Visualize a state of readiness for anything, not a perfect outcome.

• Prepare for Pressure: Visualize yourself under pressure, embracing the adversity, and using Inner Excellence principles to remain fully engaged.

• Preview: Visualize the events and circumstances of your upcoming performance, using all your senses.

4. Affirm Your Desired Future: Speak It Into Existence

Affirmations are powerful tools to create your future self. These are statements about yourself regarding how you'd like to be, as if it were true today. Affirmations should be stated in the positive ("I am") and fairly short. By consistently affirming your desired future, you create a mental blueprint that your subconscious mind works to achieve.

5. Embrace the Power of Role Models: Seeing is Believing

Murphy explains how to model someone who already has the beliefs you want to have. Ask yourself: "What does the person who's best in the world at this believe about himself regarding this sort of thing?" Then, imagine feeling what they would feel. This helps you expand your beliefs and imagine new possibilities.

6. Connect with Your Purpose: A Vision Beyond Yourself

When you have a purpose beyond yourself, you are more willing to take risks and face your fears. A vision beyond yourself serves the greater good and guides you each day. This provides a powerful foundation for extraordinary performance and fullness of life.

7. Train Your Mind to be Fully Present: Where Success Happens

Extraordinary success happens in the present moment. Being fully present means being completely engaged in the moment, with no needs or thoughts of the outcome. By developing a heightened awareness, you can fully experience the moment. Techniques for being fully present include:

• Focus on routines and what you can control.

• Practice gratitude.

• Use a mantra.

• Ruthlessly eliminate hurry.

The Journey to Inner Excellence

You don’t need to be a professional athlete to apply the principles!  Remember, the pursuit of extraordinary performance and the pursuit of the best possible life are the same path. Embrace the journey, connect with your purpose, and unleash the power of your imagination and visualization to become the best version of yourself.