Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life

Chapter 6 of Inner Excellence explores how controlling one’s emotional state facilitates personal growth and peak performance. Murphy argues that feelings run people’s lives: Positive states enable individuals to overcome obstacles, while negative states magnify challenges. The chapter establishes that results stem from behaviors, which come from feelings, which in turn originate from thoughts. According to Murphy, the brain processes information through patterns via four mechanisms: assumptions, generalizations, deletions, and distortions. These mechanisms, while necessary for daily functioning, can limit one’s perception and performance when left unexamined.

Murphy introduces the concept of “state” as the sum of feelings and physiology that constitutes one’s overall energy “vibration.” The author asserts that controlling this state requires understanding that one’s deepest desires significantly influence one’s thoughts and feelings. The concept shares similarities with positive psychology approaches promoted by contemporary psychologists like Martin Seligman, but Murphy extends this into performance psychology by connecting emotional control directly to achievement outcomes. While the chapter presents actionable techniques for state management, it occasionally oversimplifies complex neurological processes, potentially overstating how completely one can control emotions through conscious effort alone. Nevertheless, the techniques offered—including centering exercises, breathing methods, anchoring positive states, and environment management—provide practical and accessible tools for cultivating emotional control.

The chapter operates from the premise that individuals can substantially direct their mental and emotional states, which stands in contrast to some psychological traditions that emphasize the unconscious determinism of behavior. Murphy’s approach aligns more closely with cognitive-behavioral frameworks that emphasize agency in emotional regulation. The most unique element of Murphy’s approach is his emphasis on organizing one’s environment to support desired emotional states, recognizing that external stimuli profoundly influence internal experiences even without conscious awareness.

Chapter Lessons

• The state of one’s emotions largely determines performance outcomes; learning to direct feelings and physiology fundamentally changes what individuals can achieve.
• Priming the environment with empowering images, words, and experiences significantly impacts thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, often without conscious awareness.
• Centering techniques such as focused breathing, positive self-talk, and visualization effectively reset the mind and bring awareness to the present moment, enhancing focus during high-pressure situations.
• Controlling desires and expectations liberates individuals from being controlled by their emotions; by cultivating empowering desires aligned with deeper values, one can more easily reject temporary gratifications that undermine long-term goals.

Reflection Questions

• Which emotional states most consistently derail your performance, and what patterns from Chapter 6 (assumptions, generalizations, deletions, or distortions) might be contributing to those states?
• How might reorganizing your physical environment with intentional priming tools (visual cues, affirmations, etc.) reshape your daily emotional state, and which specific changes would have the greatest positive impact?

Chapter 7 argues that beliefs function as the fundamental driving force behind human performance and achievement. Murphy asserts that individuals operate not in the world as it actually is, but rather in the mental construct they have created based on their experiences and beliefs. The chapter opens with the story of Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues, who, despite standing only 5’3” and growing up amid violence in the East Baltimore projects, used his extraordinary belief system to achieve a 14-year NBA career. Murphy uses this story to illustrate his central argument that beliefs, rather than external circumstances, determine outcomes.

Murphy examines how beliefs form through emotional experiences, particularly those with strong feelings attached. Beliefs can form instantly but often remain for a lifetime, functioning as boundaries that determine what individuals perceive as possible. He introduces the concept of “homeostasis,” which he uses to describe the subconscious mind’s effort to maintain performance at a level consistent with one’s beliefs. This psychological principle suggests why individuals might unconsciously resist success that exceeds their belief framework, a concept explored in sports psychology that can help explain patterns of inconsistent performance.

The chapter provides practical strategies for belief transformation, including speaking about limitations in the past tense, as well as using daily visualizations, affirmations, and state management. The author also addresses the importance of examining whether achieving one’s goals aligns with one’s values, as internal conflicts can lead to self-sabotage.

Murphy concludes with the case study of the Delancey Street Foundation, where people convicted of felony crimes transform their lives by first changing their beliefs—acting “as if” they can become productive citizens before genuinely becoming so. This example broadens the book’s application beyond sports psychology to encompass fundamental life transformation. While Murphy’s approach draws heavily from visualization techniques common in sports psychology since the 1980s, his integration of value alignment and addressing subconscious resistance represents a more sophisticated evolution of these practices for contemporary readers.

Chapter Lessons

• Beliefs function as the primary determinant of performance outcomes, creating boundaries for what one perceives as possible and attracting experiences that reinforce existing beliefs.
• Transformation of limiting beliefs requires consistent visualization paired with emotional engagement—feeling success for even one second daily can gradually reshape the subconscious mind.
• Speaking about limitations in the past tense (“I struggled with” rather than “I struggle with”) prevents the subconscious from perpetuating problematic patterns into the future.
• Examining whether achieving one’s goals aligns with one’s personal values can reveal subconscious resistance that might otherwise sabotage success, requiring the conscious realignment of goals with one’s authentic self.

Reflection Questions

• Which areas of your life currently reflect limiting beliefs, and what experiences might have created those boundaries? How might your performance change if you consistently visualized success in those areas for just one second daily?
• Consider an important goal you haven’t yet achieved. Could there be a subconscious conflict between achieving this goal and your deeper values? What might need to be resolved to create full alignment?