Samantha Card is Helping People Shatter Limiting Beliefs
Nirvana Water Sciences’ CEO, David Vanderveen, hosted former University of Pittsburgh Softball star and now author, Samantha Card, on his podcast, Kickasspirational.
David and Samantha first met through HPLT (High Performance Leadership Training). They start the conversation discussing Samantha’s new book, The Athlete Advantage, which helps athletes transition into life after their playing careers. Samantha then dives into the journey that led her to write the book and help inspire athletes and others today.
Samantha played softball and talks about her drive at a young age, always “playing up” with older age groups and how her relentless mindset led her to an accomplished career at the University of Pittsburgh. She was named Player of the Year her Junior year at Pitt. Because of her commitment to softball she had no internships or experience off the field and when she graduated with her degree in Chemistry had no idea what was next, she felt like her identity had been stripped.
Samantha was accepted into Pitt’s MBA program and continued to use the same mindset she had on the field now in the classroom and into her professional pursuits. She got a job at Honeywell and discusses some of the keys to her quickly climbing up the corporate ladder: always being the first one to work and the last one to leave, asking questions and being a sponge to those higher up than her, being coachable, and working on making 1% gains each day in everything she did.
Though Samantha was finding great success in the corporate world, she still felt like something was missing. She wanted to be giving back. She started mentoring athletes and began finding great fulfillment from this. This led her to what she now calls her “why”: to shatter limiting beliefs. It also led to her mission: to reframe athleticism as people view it.
The Athlete Advantage helps people reframe their lives, regardless of where they have been. The book goes in depth on how she sets goals and her methods and strategies for conquering them. She talks about setting your “why” and working from there.
This conversation is inspiring and motivating and one that anyone, at any stage, in any field, will take great insights from.
