In our final episode for 2025, First Year Harvard student Nicholas McCullough shares how he maintained presence, calm, stoicism, and all those great things amidst a pressured first semester at Harvard University as a footballer and Economics student. He and other student athletes averaged 65+ hour weeks.

In this interview, Nicholas (my oldest son) shares the power of camaraderie with his fellow Harvard athletes (his fellow footballers and other athletes across campus). He shares the importance of managing our time well, choosing quiet places to focus, and managing others' expectations of us when time affluence becomes low.

And we hear of the gifts and opportunities of taking a chance and moving far away from all we know to pursue our dreams. There's some real excitement that comes from being truly anonymous and having no history whatsoever, aside from the new story we create.

My dear listeners of this small but growing show, thank you for following me. This is our last episode until the New Year. Happy Holidays. May you rest, be calm, and merry.

If you're a coach following my documentary on my MCC submission efforts, until I hear otherwise, the ICF will alert me of my pass or fail January 15. I have an essay to write and read on how daunting that feels.

If you'd like to follow Nicholas and support him in his endeavors, you can find his LinkedIn profile here.

Your show host, D G McCullough, is a communications coach for Google PMs through Fortune 100 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. Find her on LinkedIn. Book her for coaching, training or ICF mentoring here. Join her communications and active listening workshops on Maven here and here.

A simple daily flow of coaching questions helps me feel happier, but also more focused, ambitious, and committed to my work and life goals.

My goals typically seem to come true, in part of this vital practice grounded in maintaining presence in the wake of not knowing. And slowing down long enough to see all that's going great, right now, without wanting nor needing to change a thing.

You can read my Substack post on how and why I pause to applause here.

Your show host, D G McCullough, is a communications coach for Google PMs through Fortune 100 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. Find her on LinkedIn. Book her for coaching, training or ICF mentoring here. Join her communications and active listening workshops on Maven here and here.

When customer operations manager Jeanette Bernard lost her husband Matt four years ago, the flippant comments from others on her need to rebound fast upset her as much as the grief.

“People would say: You’ll be back out there in a couple of months. You’ll be fine,” she recalls of awful comments at her husband’s funeral. “I was so mad. I will never forget Matt. Nor does he want me to.”

Now four years later, and the anniversary of Matt’s death on Thanksgiving week, Jeanette still communicates with her childhood sweetheart in her own special way. She finds talking with him, asking for signs of his presence, and remembering him coming to her in her dreams (and one very powerful time when awake) helps her feel comforted. She still feels his presence and his love. And keeping connected with him also helps her function at work and in life.

In a touching episode, we hear Jeanette’s encounters with seeing her husband, how she asks for signs, and how those signs appear, often within 1-2 days. We hear on this upcoming Thanksgiving week her appeal to us all to continue communicating with those we love who have passed away. “They want to hear from us. They want us to remember them,” she says. “So talk to them.”

Your show host, D G McCullough, is a communications coach for Fortune 100 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. Find her on LinkedIn. Book her for coaching, training or ICF mentoring here.

Join her communications and active listening workshops on Maven here and here.

Chapter 5 of the Harvard Mum essay project documents the truer reality of Harvard life now 2.5 months have passed, the pressure has raised, and athletes and scholars (like my son) must juggle robust commitments to their sport and studies.

There's also the inevitable pressure of being an eighteen-nineteen year-old student, often far from home, and admitted into the world's most revered university.

Read from my essay on Substack.

Your show host, D G McCullough, is a communications coach for Fortune 100 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. Find her on LinkedIn.

Join her communications and active listening workshops on Maven here and here.

The holidays can stretch too many of us bringing heightened stress and surface-level conversations, even with those we love. Paris, France-based Coach Marie-Louise Pereira knows how to bring coaching skills and Competency No 5 (maintaining presence) into our daily flow and to our relationships with those we love.

In a lovely conversation with a dear friend and peer coach, we unpack how we use our active listening skills and clear boundary setting (and even our ability to say 'no' vs 'yes' to things that drain us) to stay calm, even amidst the holidays.

If you find the skills and tips from one New Zealand coach and one Parisian coach help you, please forward this episode on to another person needing more calm, flow, and fewer disconnects with those they care for.

You can find Marie-Louise on LinkedIn.

Your show host, D G McCullough, is a communications coach for Fortune 100 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. Find her on LinkedIn. Join her communications and active listening workshops on Maven here and here. Blank page to Byline, write your annual review like a global business reporter, her newest writing workshop is on Luma, click here.

It's the annual review season and the final quarterly review for those on the quarterly system. I hear rumblings from many I coach who feel stretched too thin, burdened with too many projects, and exposed to failure more than they'd like. If the task becomes writing on our work, all that went well, and how things emerged as we'd hoped, ought we also address what flopped?

I say: Yes. We ought to. Failure opens up great storytelling opportunities and if you're working 330+ days in a year, perfection's impossible. But how to feel better about the bleak or imperfect moments? Journalism storytelling techniques can help. So can Competency Number 5, maintaining presence, staying calm and peaceful in the wake of not knowing, because it gives us excellent perspective on what matters, and what doesn't. Also, how to trust ourselves amidst ambiguity. And career failures can certainly feel ambiguous.

Reading from Medium, my musings on how maintaining presence helps us communicate what did not go right with our work with more calm, clarity, and conviction in hopes you feel comfortable doing the same as you write your review. Especially helpful for those seeking a promotion, because failure, after all, separates the meek from the courageous.

Your show host, D G McCullough, is a communications coach for Fortune 100 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. Find her on LinkedIn. Join her communications and active listening workshops on Maven here and here. Blank page to Byline, write your annual review like a global business reporter, her newest writing workshop is on Luma, click here.

My Master Certified Coaching submission is finally in with the International Coaching Federation! I await my ICF assessors’ feedback on whether I pass or fail. My musings on active listening and masterful coaching since I hit “submit” this past Monday, including final indecisiveness, a solar eclipse across my birthplace in New Zealand, and a stunning reminder from the late Dr. James R Doty, an esteemed neurosurgeon, on what active listening really means, and feels like, for the receiver. (And why we all ought to strive, therefore, to listen to the very best of our capabilities as our generous and uplifting offering to humanity.)

Join the celebrations on LinkedIn here.

Your show host, D G McCullough, is a communications coach for Fortune 100 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. Find her on LinkedIn. Join her communications and active listening workshops on Maven here and here. Blank page to Byline, write your annual review like a global business reporter, her newest writing workshop is on Luma, click here.

I’m one week shy of finalizing my MCC application process, which began with the launch of this podcast in July 7, 2023.

This week’s episode is documentary style. No music. Just raw footage, of me documenting the many final steps, big decisions, the over thinking, and the huge importance of staying present when working in a state of not knowing.

Thanks to my many peer coaches, my clients, and friends and family who’ve supported me in this journey, which has changed how I feel about myself and how I communicate forever.

Your show host, D G McCullough, is a communications coach for Fortune 100 leaders, a former reporter for the Guardian, the Economist, and the FT of London. Find her on LinkedIn. Join her communications and active listening workshops on Maven here and here.