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How do you know when it’s time to leave, even when you’re the owner ?

In this episode of Time To Press Pause, Ellen Williams is joined by Sean O’Rourke, a cyber liability consultant, CFO, and former IT company co-founder, who shares the moment he realized he could no longer live in a millisecond-by-millisecond business.

After more than 25 years in technology, including 12 years running the IT firm he co-founded, Sean made the difficult decision to step away from day-to-day operations.

Not because he couldn’t do the work, but because it no longer aligned with the life he wanted to live.

Together, they explore what it means to pause without quitting, how identity and motivation shape leadership decisions, and why being honest with the “reflection in the mirror” matters more than external expectations.

In this conversation, you’ll hear:

• How to recognize burnout before it defines you
• What it really means to leave, even when you’re the boss
• Why technology became a 24/7 pressure cooker
• How Sean reshaped his career without walking away from his expertise
• The importance of being honest about what truly motivates you

This episode is a powerful reminder that pressing pause isn’t about stopping, it’s about choosing what comes next.

📘 Ellen Williams’ upcoming book (pre-launch):
Creating Time: The Key to Productivity and Peace
👉 https://shopbooksdirect.com/product/creating-time/

Learn more about Sean O’Rourke and his work at Combs & Company:
👉 https://www.combsandco.com

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In this episode of Time To Press Pause, Ellen Williams sits down with Susan L. Combs, President of Combs & Company LLC and founder of the nonprofit Pancakes for Roger.

Susan’s press pause moment didn’t come from long reflection, it arrived suddenly, under pressure, and with real consequences.

After her nonprofit received an unexpected $20,000 donation, the donor later demanded that a large portion of the funds be redirected to an unvetted project.

What followed was a high-stakes leadership moment involving legal threats, board deliberation, and the responsibility of stewarding money that wasn’t hers, but belonged to the mission.

In this conversation, Susan shares how she:

• Pressed pause during a crisis instead of reacting emotionally
• Brought her board together to evaluate hard options quickly and ethically
• Chose integrity over convenience, even when it hurt financially
• Used the experience to strengthen governance and prevent future risk
• Learned why leadership sometimes means making decisions you won’t celebrate, but can live with

Ellen and Susan also discuss:

• Why nonprofits must be run with the same rigor as businesses
• How to handle emotionally charged conversations and legal threats
• Why being able to “sleep at night” is a powerful leadership compass
• The importance of tone-checking responses before reacting
• How moments like these shape better leaders and stronger organizations

This episode is a powerful reminder that pressing pause isn’t always calm or comfortable, sometimes it’s urgent, stressful, and necessary to protect integrity.

Learn more about Susan: https://combsandco.com

Learn more about Pancakes for Roger: https://pancakesforroger.org

Learn more about Ellen: https://thesalientstrategist.com

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In this episode of Time To Press Pause, Ellen Williams speaks with Judy K. Herman, CEO of Relationship Wellness LLC, psychotherapist, author, and retreat facilitator who has spent decades helping heart-centered professionals step away from the noise of life so they can return transformed.

Judy’s press pause story doesn’t begin in a boardroom.

It starts in a graduate school classroom, in the middle of a troubled 30-year marriage, when she realized something had to change, and that something was her.

What followed was a decisive choice: to step away from her day-to-day life and invest in an individual spiritual retreat in Canada.

That quiet, intentional pause gave her clarity about her marriage, her identity, and the life she wanted to build next.

From there, Judy:

• Became a therapist to better understand her own story and help others with theirs
• Wrote Beyond Messy Relationships, blending her personal journey with client-centered insights
• Developed her A.I.R. framework for a “vibrantly authentic life”:
  • Awareness
  • Intentionality
  • Risk of growth
• Learned that you can’t change another person—you can only take responsibility for your own next step

She talks with Ellen about how retreats, body wisdom, and daily micro-pauses can become catalysts for major life shifts and why once you see something clearly, you can’t go backwards and unsee it.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How a single retreat became a defining turning point in Judy’s life
• Why partnership (or the lack of it) shapes both families and businesses
• What it really means to take the “risk of growth” in your personal and professional life
• Why well-intentioned pushback from others can’t be the final word on your decisions
• How to use body signals, journaling, and daily pauses to know when it’s time to press pause

If you’ve ever felt something in your life or leadership isn’t quite aligned, but you can’t yet name what it is, Judy’s story will give you language, frameworks, and courage to explore it.

Learn more about Judy: https://judycounselor.com

Learn more about Ellen: https://thesalientstrategist.com

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