Designed Pause Podcast

deidrangreen
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Designed Pause is a space for high achieving corporate professionals who want permission to pause — not out of exhaustion, but out of intention. I’m Deidra Green, a former senior leader who has taken two intentional career breaks to create clarity, alignment, and exposure to new options. Each pause helped me design my life more intentionally — leading to entrepreneurship, senior leadership, and now a new chapter focused on thoughtful transition. This podcast is for women who are: Successful on paper but quietly questioning what’s next Considering a career break, sabbatical, or pivot Looking for planning tools, frameworks, and real-life examples Ready to listen to their own voice and design life on their terms Here, I document my own Designed Pause while sharing the tools, mentors, and mindset shifts that help make pauses intentional — not reckless. This isn’t about quitting your life. It’s about designing it. ✨ New podcasts weekly ✨ Subscribe to walk this season with me

  1. 10h ago

    Just Got Laid Off? Don’t Panic-Apply. Do This Instead.

    The day after a layoff, most of us do the same thing: we panic-apply to every job that looks like the last one. I’m in Thailand right now, and at an elephant sanctuary I met an elephant named Dancing Queen. She was rescued from a circus. She’s free now, and nobody asks her to perform. But whenever people come close, she still starts to dance. That stayed with me, because so many of us do the same thing after a layoff. We keep performing for the paycheck, the title, and the applause, even when none of it is required of us anymore. In this episode, I talk about why that happens and how to stop. I also walk through five paths you can choose instead of panic-applying: Return: the same field or role type, chosen on purpose this time Shift: a different role or field that uses what you’re good at Prepare: build a skill, credential, or network before you commit Pause: take real time before you search at all Transition: a different kind of work entirely Just got laid off? Designed Pause: Catch Your Breath is a course that helps you use your own thinking, with AI as a thinking partner, to plan your next move. It covers severance, COBRA, your financial and emotional runway, and a 30/60/90-day plan built around you, not a generic template. Catch Your Breath course: https://stan.store/designedpause/p/designed-pause-the-transition-course Everything lives at designedpause.com

  2. Oct 14

    My Career Break Saved Me From a Health Emergency!

    Last episode, I told you the doctor in Bangkok found something during my full head-to-toe checkup. This is what happened next. I share what came up, the signs I’d brushed off for years, and what it felt like to finally be heard by a doctor who trusted me to know what I want for my own life. It’s still unfolding, and it may keep me in Thailand longer than I planned. If nothing else comes from this career break, this alone made the leap worth it. This is my personal experience, not medical advice. Book a free Pause Clarity Call at designedpause.com with code SAMPLE100.

  3. Oct 7

    Medical Tourism in Thailand: My Bumrungrad Hospital Experience (Start to Finish)

    I'm in Thailand, and I used part of my career break to do something I never had time for in corporate. I got a full head-to-toe checkup at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok. In this episode, I take you through the whole experience, start to finish. I'll tell you why I wanted to go beyond a standard physical at 40, how I booked a package with the price listed up front, and how the hospital handled my insurance for me. Then I walk you through a six-hour day that felt nothing like any healthcare I've had in the United States. At the end of the day, the doctor found something. It's going to change my stay here and the next couple of months of my life. More on that in the next episode. This isn't medical advice. Talk with your own provider about what's right for you. Free Designed Pause Journaling Prompts: https://v2.stan.store/designedpause/designedpause_prompts

  4. Sep 30

    They Offered to Double Her Salary. She Left Anyway.

    I spent years with a suitcase that never really got unpacked, for a job I was good at. My guest today knows that life well. Alana Rollock was a nurse turned director of client outcomes at a virtual nursing company. She flew Monday through Friday, answered emails at Sunday dinner, and loved the work. When she tried to leave, they offered to double her salary. Twice, they convinced her to stay. She left anyway. Not because she wasn't successful, but because, in her words, "compensation can fix the discomfort momentarily, but it cannot always fix misalignment." Today, through RLK AI Vision Lab, Alana helps business owners and organizations turn AI into practical business infrastructure. She's also the co-creator of Awaken, an eight-week activation accelerator for people turning their experience into something of their own. In this episode, we talk about: –  What her corporate chapter actually looked like, day to day –  Golden handcuffs, and how she knew there was no longer a price that would keep her –  Why she treated her employer as her "investors" while she prepared to leave –  Being happily single and child-free by choice at 40, and what people get wrong about it –  The stillness nobody warns you about after you leave –  What she'd do differently   If something in this conversation stayed with you, don't rush past it. Start with the free Designed Pause Journaling Prompts. Free Journaling Prompts: https://v2.stan.store/designedpause/designedpause_prompts Connect with Alana: –  Free Awaken AI Masterclass, Wednesday, September 30 at 8:00 PM EST. Text AWAKEN to 888-778-3502 anytime to register. –  Alana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanarollock/

  5. Sep 23

    I Didn’t Wait for Retirement. I Built the Life Now

    Since I was a little girl, I had a dream of living on an island close to the beach. I always figured it would happen at retirement. After I had done enough of the other things first. And then I stopped waiting. This is a personal episode about why I made travel and a move to Saint Lucia part of my career break — and what that decision has taught me about what luxury actually means, what ambition costs when it goes unchecked, and who you become when you are placed in a completely new environment where nobody knows who you are and there are no expectations of you. I talk about the sister's trip that first brought me to Saint Lucia, what I had to sell and let go of to make this move, the realization that I was conflating luxury with convenience, and what it feels like to build a business without being crushed by the weight of my own ambition. And I talk directly to the woman who has a version of this dream but has convinced herself it's only possible later. It isn't. The road will be different for everyone. But it is worth traveling. Book a free Pause Clarity Call: designedpause.com use code Sample100 Download the journaling prompts: https://v2.stan.store/designedpause/designedpause_prompts

  6. Sep 16

    Freestyle Episode: Realizing You’re Living the Life of Your Dreams

    Ten planes in fourteen days. A friend's studio opening. Napa Valley with my sister. An interview on a channel I've watched for years. Time with my mom. A new coaching client whose entire perspective shifted in one conversation. This is a freestyle episode — no framework, no guest, just an honest reflection on what it feels like when the life you spent so long designing starts to actually land. I also talk about why it matters to let yourself feel the good days. Because as real as the mental shifts and the unlearning are, the joy is real too. And it's worth naming out loud. Plus — what's coming next, including an extended trip to Thailand. Book a free Pause Clarity Call — use code SAMPLE100: designedpause.com Exodus Summit YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@exodussummit

  7. Sep 2

    The Two Hardest Things About Taking a Career Pause — And How to Prepare for Both

    Career breaks are about more than preparing financially. You need help getting ready for the mental shift too. Most high achievers who take a career pause are blindsided by two things nobody warned them about. The first is living between identities — the disorientation that hits when someone asks what you do and your old answer no longer fits. The second is letting go of the need to feel productive — the guilt of sleeping, resting, and existing without a deliverable attached. Both of them can take a pause that was designed to restore you and quietly turn it into another source of stress. This episode is about seeing them coming before they arrive. I walk through what each struggle actually looks like, what I personally experienced, and the strategies that helped me — before the pause and during it. Because the mental preparation is just as important as the financial preparation. And almost nobody talks about it. Download the free Designed Pause journaling prompts: https://stan.store/designedpause/designedpause_prompts designedpause.com

  8. Aug 26

    There Is No Plan B

    Tarji Carter knew she was leaving corporate. She just didn't know when. So she started preparing. Two years before she actually left, she was collecting personal phone numbers and email addresses, saving aggressively every pay period, getting her medical appointments done, and quietly building the vision for what would become The Franchise Player — because she knew that when the moment came, she didn't want to leave out of desperation. She wanted to leave on her own terms. In this episode Tarji and I talk about what intentional exit planning actually looks like, what it cost her to build something that the franchise industry had never prioritized, and why she has no plan B. We cover: How she went from knowing nothing about franchising to being promoted to Director of Franchise Sales within eight months The slow build that led her to leave corporate — and the week in Barcelona that started it all How she prepared financially for her pause two years in advance The loneliness of building something nobody around you understands What franchising actually is — and why it might be the wealth-building tool you never knew was available to you What she wishes she had known before she made the leap Connect with Tarji Carter and The Franchise Player: thefranchiseplayer.com Get the Designed Pause Decision Kit: www.designedpause.com

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About

Designed Pause is a space for high achieving corporate professionals who want permission to pause — not out of exhaustion, but out of intention. I’m Deidra Green, a former senior leader who has taken two intentional career breaks to create clarity, alignment, and exposure to new options. Each pause helped me design my life more intentionally — leading to entrepreneurship, senior leadership, and now a new chapter focused on thoughtful transition. This podcast is for women who are: Successful on paper but quietly questioning what’s next Considering a career break, sabbatical, or pivot Looking for planning tools, frameworks, and real-life examples Ready to listen to their own voice and design life on their terms Here, I document my own Designed Pause while sharing the tools, mentors, and mindset shifts that help make pauses intentional — not reckless. This isn’t about quitting your life. It’s about designing it. ✨ New podcasts weekly ✨ Subscribe to walk this season with me

Information

  • Creator
    deidrangreen
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    37
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Designed Pause Podcast