Nick McCullough: "What got me through my first semester at Harvard? Camaraderie with fellow athletes and extreme time management."

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.