Building the Mindset of a Champion with Danielle Mills

July 20, 2020

When you spend your life training to be a champion, you develop great habits along the way. When that training leads to becoming a professional athlete at the age of 14, the habits you build have the potential to set you up for a lifetime of success.

Danielle Mills is a retired professional tennis player turned entrepreneur. In this episode of Lift U Up: Inspiring Health Stories, Danielle shares the events that led to her becoming the founder and CEO of HEADSTRONG, a coaching company created to help women reach their fullest potential by creating a champion’s mindset. When her lifelong tennis career came to an end in her early 20s, Danielle went from being terrified of finding a new passion to using her skills to help build other women up.

Growing up, Danielle lived a life that revolved around one thing: tennis. From the moment she was born, her family knew that she would be a tennis star, which she soon proved to be true. She started playing at the age of two, attended a sports academy at 10, and by the age of 14, Danielle went pro. She spent her teenage years training, traveling the world for matches, and pushing herself to be the best athlete she could be. This determination is what she describes as the champion mindset.

Growing up as an athlete, Danielle was presented with a lot of tools that helped shape the person she is today. She was taught what it meant to chase goals, have discipline, work hard, and never make excuses. These tools helped her succeed in the world of tennis, but she soon realized that they also helped in many aspects of life.

Danielle continued to push herself in her tennis career until she started to experience extreme knee pain that she could no longer ignore. She had two torn meniscuses. One double knee surgery later, she was back on the court, but things were never quite the same. Danielle could tell her game was going down, and mentally had to overcome the fact that she might never play with the same ability she once had. Eventually, Danielle made the tough decision to retire from tennis at the age of 23 and looked ahead to a then unclear future.

Unsure of how her skillset could apply to the professional world, and with a few stops in between, Danielle eventually found her passion once more. She realized she could take what she learned as a determined athlete, and mentor other people into becoming their best self. How? By developing the mindset of a champion and working past the limiting beliefs that are holding them back from reaching their full potential.

From the player to a coach, Danielle spends her days pushing her clients towards their full potential.

What else can you expect in this episode?

  • The moment where Danielle finally had the feeling that she “made it” in her tennis career.
  • Why successful athletes have the type of accountability others lack.
  • How she “peels back the layers” of her clients to uncover what might be holding them back in life.
  • What manifesting and mindset have to do with self-development.
  • Her tips for making the most out of quarantine, and what she has accomplished with her time. (Launching a book and podcast!)
Building the Mindset of a Champion

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