Hacking Happy with Penny Locaso
168 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsWelcome to the Hacking Happy podcast. I'm your host Penny Locaso and I'm the world's first Happiness Hacker with a bold mission to teach 10 million women how to flourish on their terms by 2025 without guilt.
This podcast is designed to help you reignite your spark so that you can channel it towards injecting more balance, presence and connection into each day without burnout.
If that sounds like something you could use a little more of let's get started!
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Episodes
When it's time to reTREAT with Laetitia Andrac
February 20, 2023 19:00 - 36 minutes - 84.5 MBEver wondered what a retreat is, why you would invest in one and how they provide you with an opportunity to shift and make the change you long for when you can't do it in your every day? If so, then this podcast is for you. My dear friend and upcoming reTREAT co-conspirator Laetitia Andrac (AKA the business doula) and I connect on why we believe retreats are so valuable to our journey and growth. Join us in a conversation that exposes thoughts and feelings that neither of us have shared p...
When it’s time to show up as who you really are with Alex Bakowski
February 06, 2023 05:19 - 27 minutes - 62.6 MBImagine shaving off parts of who you really are to fit in and how over time, that would impact your ability to love what you do and who you are. Meet Alex Bakowski, a successful executive who, at the top of her game, decided to walk away from her safe career so that she could add back those shaved-off parts, show up as her true self and shape a future of work that enables others to do the same. In this story of transformation, Alex shares: How she found the clarity and self-belief to...
Why the ocean holds the answer to where in 2023
January 20, 2023 05:47 - 11 minutes - 26.6 MBHow alive do you want to feel in 2023? I want to feel as alive as I do right now. I’ve filled my days over the past month with the life ingredients that matter to me; family, movement, nature and positive impact. These are the basic elements that guide what I consider a wholehearted and meaningful life. So given where we are at in this week's podcast I want to have a play with what I call the Life Ingredients Awareness tool to help guide you into an intentional and meaningful 2023. ...
There are no quick wins in the game of growth
December 13, 2022 19:57 - 17 minutes - 41.2 MBIn this week's episode, I want to support you in creating the space for reflection at the end of another year and provide you with some powerful hacks on how to step into 2023 with intention, calm, and presence. I also throw in some brilliant reflection prompts courtesy of the amazing James Clear, author of Atomic Habits who I had the good fortune to see speak on my recent trip to Mexico. Subscribe & Review The Hacking Happy Podcast Thanks for listening to this week's episode! If t...
Stepping out of burnout with Sophie
December 02, 2022 02:19 - 35 minutes - 81.7 MBSophie is a young successful lawyer with a clear purpose to be a voice for equality and integrity in her profession. A little while back she found herself running on adrenaline, busy was her specialty and it came at a cost. "I didn’t make time for anything that’s just for me. I didn’t know who I was when I’m not ‘Sophie the lawyer”. I knew something needed to change, but I didn't know what that change was." This week's podcast is all about Sophie and her story of recharging her batteries a...
Nature the attentional recharger
November 18, 2022 03:04 - 18 minutes - 25.8 MBGreetings from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. A place encapsulated by magnificent jungles, underground rivers and the Caribbean sea and a culture that dates back to BC. I’m trying to put into words how this place makes me feel and it’s difficult but let me try. As I sit and soak it in, I realise how being surrounded by such an abundance of nature brings a feeling of calm, of inner peace and a clarity of mind and creativity. Yet there is an inner battle, it’s real and it’s illogical. It...
Small Steps To Self-Disrupt for Energy, Presence & Calm.
November 01, 2022 05:16 - 15 minutes - 21.3 MBI felt compelled to create this podcast because my research with over one hundred beautiful working women this year has exposed a consistent theme when it comes to feeling like you’re existing rather than living. This podcast episode is for anyone who feels like they're letting everyone down and like nobodies getting the best of them. If that sounds like you let’s go deeper. It’s likely you long for a greater sense of ease, calm and groundedness in the average day but at the moment you...
Neuroscience, sleep and why transformation takes time
October 17, 2022 06:30 - 14 minutes - 19.3 MBMy brain is bending in ways I never imagined. I’m currently buried in Neuroscience. It’s blowing my mind around what I’m learning about the biology of the brain and how it is impacted by our behaviour and our environment. Connecting dots as I do I partner this feeling with something else that I keep hearing from my early-stage coaching clients. It’s but a simple question. Why aren't things happening fast enough? I get it when I first started this journey, I’d try something new, p...
Toxic productivity versus healthy high performance
September 30, 2022 02:15 - 15 minutes - 20.6 MBWe are experiencing a human energy crisis. Can you feel it? We have to ask ourselves how did we arrive here? Arrive in a place where productivity has become our disease at the expense of healthy and happy high performance. How is it that we now use the label quiet quitting for people who do the job they are paid to do without sacrificing their lives and their health for it? In this week’s podcast, I want to start a conversation about how toxic productivity is driving a human ener...
Confessions of a validation junkie
September 18, 2022 21:00 - 28 minutes - 39.1 MBImagine you're a highly successful executive in investment banking managing a global team but secretly, you're unfulfilled, sleepless, and laid low by migraines. Held back by expectations... mostly your own you find yourself frightened to leave. Instead you settle for a sabbatical to create the space which is where your journey into what's next begins. Excited by what's possible, you soon come to the confronting realisation that your biggest barrier to change is your need for the validation...
I Almost Quite
September 05, 2022 04:24 - 17 minutes - 23.4 MBI’ve just had the biggest month I’ve ever had in my business by more than double. I smashed my monthly target that I set as a goal at the start of the year completely out of the park. I never considered that I, with just an assistant who works a day a week for me and a social media support person, could achieve such a result and yet here we are. It feels overwhelmingly abundant but it also feels like a moment of truth. This podcast is about stripping back the layers in a world masked by wi...
I Almost Quit
September 05, 2022 04:24 - 17 minutes - 23.4 MBI’ve just had the biggest month I’ve ever had in my business by more than double. I smashed my monthly target that I set as a goal at the start of the year completely out of the park. I never considered that I, with just an assistant who works a day a week for me and a social media support person, could achieve such a result and yet here we are. It feels overwhelmingly abundant but it also feels like a moment of truth. This podcast is about stripping back the layers in a world masked by wi...
Dance like no ones watching
August 15, 2022 22:42 - 15 minutes - 20.8 MBIn this podcast episode, I thought I might take a little time to share what I’ve been up to over the past couple of weeks and share a perspective on a concept I call the space for self-disruption. A concept that has changed my life and continues to inject joy, presence, connection and unbelievable opportunities into my life. Subscribe & Review The Hacking Happy Podcast Thanks for listening to this week's episode! If this podcast helped you in your journey to injecting more of what m...
Time Freedom
July 21, 2022 04:00 - 24 minutes - 22.6 MBHas productivity become your prison? The prison of productivity means calm feels elusive, and presence with loved ones feels like a struggle. We've literally wired our neural pathways to believe that being still and present is unproductive because all actions should result in a task ticked off a to-do list. Being a human being is no longer valued, and yet it's where time freedom lives. That's why in this week's podcast, I want us to have a conversation about Time Freedom, what is it, wh...
Stories Of Transformation - Part 4
July 07, 2022 05:09 - 29 minutes - 27.2 MBWhat if you stopped living by the rules and made your own? Mona and I met at a co-working space we used to share. We used to enjoy an informal chat and she was always asking questions about how I'd turned my life upside down in pursuit of happiness and stopped living by the rules and instead made my own. | I left the coworking space in 2018 and our paths hadn't crossed since. That was until a few weeks back when she popped into my inbox with the most tear-welling, heart-warming story of ...
Stories Of Transformation - Part 3
June 22, 2022 21:00 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBMelissa Hamilton, was once a successful CEO leading teams of over 5,000 employees until life surprised her with a career pause and a breast cancer diagnosis. She's now the Founder of Brave Feminine Leadership and is on a mission to inspire 100,000 women to take the next intentional step in their careers. This is Melissa's story of letting go of the certainty in order to lean into a wholehearted life. Episode Resources If you'd like to find out more about Melissa's work and her podcast go to...
You will always attract what you believe you're worth.
June 15, 2022 14:00 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBI wondered what can I share that will be in service of those who long to live their days differently but don't feel worthy or confident enough to just start. In this podcast, I want to share with you how to step into your self-worth and claim it wholeheartedly because you are worthy of feeling energised by the day before you, worthy of feeling present, connected and calm, and worthy of opportunities that extend beyond your dreams.
Finding CALM Amidst The Chaos
May 22, 2022 05:37 - 17 minutes - 16.2 MBFinding calm is a practice. Consistent cries for CALM from working mums around the world have flooded my inbox and my ears since I shared my White Paper on the impacts of COVID-19 on working mums. That's why this week I want to share with you why I created my new group coaching program The Calm Collective and how you can start to cultivate a practice of CALM in what feels like a chaotic world. Subscribe & Review The Hacking Happy Podcast Thanks for listening to this week's episode! If this...
How To Put Your Own Oxygen Mask On First Without Feeling Guilty
May 02, 2022 13:00 - 20 minutes - 19.3 MBAre you burnt out? In last week's podcast I spoke about the trends I am seeing in my Psychology research around burnout in working women and specifically how it's impacting working mums. In this week's episode, we continue this conversation but shift focus toward what the psychology says about why you feel so exhausted, why it needs your urgent attention and what you can do to start putting your own oxygen mask on first and without guilt. Subscribe & Review The Hacking Happy Podcast Thank...
Why We Need To Support Working Mums In Putting Their Own Oxygen Masks On First
April 15, 2022 00:55 - 26 minutes - 24.2 MBWorking mums are burnt out. I'm pissed off. I'm frustrated. I'm sad. And I'm not going to be silent any longer. What I am seeing in my work with professional working mums is disturbing and something has to be done. I have spent the last eight weeks interviewing dozens of women who have reached out to me off the back of social posts I have shared around an alarming trend in working women around pervasive burnout. There have been so many tears, so many cries for help, stories of needing to ...
Stories Of Transformation | Part 2
April 08, 2022 07:23 - 37 minutes - 34.4 MBReal stories from real people. In part 2 of our series on stories of transformation, we connect with a beautiful soul who was a successful Joint Venture Manager in a global giant and walked away from it all so as to raise his son. Aden Murphy is a unique human and dear friend with a compelling story of transformation and self-discovery. This week's podcast is for anyone who finds themselves stuck in the void between intention and action and unable to find the right path to progress their dr...
Stories Of Transformation | Part 1
April 03, 2022 01:38 - 48 minutes - 44.6 MBReal stories from real people. What comes to your mind when you think of the word transformation? For me, it's a visual of a little caterpillar one day deciding its time, so she spins her little cocoon to encase herself and soon after reappears as a beautiful butterfly. Transformed into the next iteration of who she wants to be, it's intentional and it's beautiful. Whilst I love this visual I know all too well the truth of transformation. It's messy, it's uncertain, uncomfortable, it requir...
The Secret To Realising Possibility
March 20, 2022 09:37 - 15 minutes - 14.7 MBMake progress towards possible. I've been spending a lot of time reflecting of late on what in my transformation journey has been most impactful in propelling me forward. Moving me closer to what I term a growth lifestyle. A lifestyle that is in alignment with how I want to show up and enjoy this wild and wonderful experience that is life. It's that reflection that was the catalyst for this podcast which I have to say surprised and delighted me in terms of how it unfolded. I never appreciat...
When it's time to get out of your own way
March 11, 2022 15:09 - 16 minutes - 15.5 MBUsing science to elevate confidence. Back early on in my career at the ripe old age of 20, I got my first job in a corporate environment working for a woman who I looked up to as a role model. She seemed kind and helpful through the interview process, but not long after I started, I felt like every task I undertook was under a criticism microscope. The longer this went on, the more I tried harder to please her, the less happy she became and the more my confidence eroded. I was astounded at h...
From Sluggish To Flourish
February 25, 2022 05:15 - 17 minutes - 16.2 MBDefine flourishing on your terms. It took me 40 years to define and start living flourishing on my terms. How long will it take you? Today I want to gift you the clarity of what flourishing looks like on your terms so that you can realise the benefits of injecting more of it into each day. Enjoy! Subscribe & Review The Hacking Happy Podcast Thanks for listening to this week's episode! If this podcast helped you in your journey to injecting more of what makes you feel good into each day pl...
3 Ways to Find the Time to Transform NOW!
February 10, 2022 07:32 - 17 minutes - 16.3 MBFind the Time to Transform. Do you ever hear yourself say: "If I had more time I'd change" "There's just not enough time for me to make the change" "I wish I had more hours in the day then, I'd change" One of the most consistent barriers my clients share to transforming into the life they long for, is time... This is why in today's podcast I want to provide you with 3 ways to find the time to start your transformation, whatever that is, NOW! Experiment with them and shoot me an email at h...
2022 Start Here
January 30, 2022 01:10 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBThis year will be different. There's something about a new year that gives us that mojo to want to shift gears into freedom mode. Do you find yourself saying things like... "This year's going to be different" Or "Fuck it, I'm not going to do life this way anymore" ... then this episode is for you. I'm not going to go through grand plans for 2022, goal setting, or big lofty visions. Instead, I'm going to help you start simply because just the idea of change for many of us is overwhelming...
The Lessons of 2021
December 15, 2021 03:40 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBAn opportunity to reflect. It's almost the end of the year, and whilst many people race around I always find myself pressing pause at this time. Creating the space to reflect on the year that was, and the lessons it has to offer. So, whilst I've been playing in this space I thought I would share with you in this week's podcast a beautiful reflection tool in the hope that it might inspire you to reflect on your 2021 and consider how you might intentionally adapt your plans as you move into 2...
Word Wellbeing
December 08, 2021 03:23 - 16 minutes - 15.4 MBSidelining should. You should, I should, we should. What does this word should mean to you? How does it make you feel? I've been noticing it in my vocab a lot lately, moving through my day thinking I should do this, I should do that. It has me thinking about how this word makes me feel... which is often shitty, depleted, and like I'm not doing enough, not being enough. So, I thought in this week's podcast we might deep dive into a little word wellbeing. I want to explore how the language...
Invest In Your Zen
November 30, 2021 03:14 - 15 minutes - 14.2 MBFind your zen. We are in the lead-up to Christmas. We're out of lockdown and it feels a bit like turning 18 years old or 21 in the US and being able to get out and party legally. We feel like we can make plans again without them being pulled out from under us at the last minute, and on the work front, there is always a race to get things done before the Christmas deadline. Which turns on the busy buttons and pushes us toward burnout. It's for all of these reasons that I want to explore in t...
Thankful
November 24, 2021 05:22 - 8 minutes - 8.39 MBGratitude for wellbeing. It's Thanksgiving this week in the USA and Canada. This beautiful day is a celebration of the harvest and other blessings of the past year. Just thinking about it makes my heart light up. Because my daily gratitude practice is one of the things that helped me mentally get through 6 lockdowns. It's why in this week's podcast I want to focus on being thankful through the practice of gratitude. I want to share with you the scientifically proven benefits of gratitude a...
Intentionally Adapt Or Be Adapted
November 17, 2021 02:18 - 19 minutes - 18 MBThe science of IAQ. In case you missed it in last week's episode, I shared how my intentional adaptability tool has now been scientifically validated as a psychological psychometric that can predict and elevate change readiness and life satisfaction. In this week's episode, I want to share with you as an individual and equally as a leader, if that's a role you play, the key findings of the research that was undertaken to scientifically validate IAQ. Why? Because I want to gift you a feel f...
Experimenting Your Way To Flourishing
November 10, 2021 00:43 - 15 minutes - 14.7 MBIntentional Adaptability as a science. This past week I have realised a major milestone in my business and equally in my life. I've achieved something that I never dreamt of, and it's come off the back of experimentation and intentionally adapting. Off the back of being true to who I am and practicing what I preach and teach. Allow me the indulgence of sharing in the hope that it might inspire you to experiment your way to flourishing. You are capable of so much more than you realise, and t...
Mums In Lockdown - Part Four | with Laetitia Andrac
November 03, 2021 00:54 - 47 minutes - 43.9 MBThe soulful business doula. The Mums In Lockdown series continues this week as we explore firsthand the challenges of navigating a disrupted life with Laetitia Andrac. She calls herself a Soulful business Doula and has a gift in providing a sacred space for women willing to create soul-aligned businesses, careers, and lives. She's also the Mumma of two little girls and a new puppy who quit her executive position to start a soul-led business at the start of the pandemic. Together we explore h...
Mums In Lockdown - Part Three | with Ali Smith
October 25, 2021 02:38 - 35 minutes - 33 MBHR professional, mother of four. Welcome to part three of our special series Mums In Lockdown. This is where working Mums in lockdown share firsthand their challenges, how they are navigating life, and any hacks they have discovered that enable them to inject more of what matters into each day. This week we speak to Ali Smith, a Human Resources professional, student of psychology, and mother of four. Ali is also an experimenter who is forever curious and looking for ways to enable herself an...
Mums In Lockdown - Part Two | with Lisa Stephenson
October 19, 2021 04:38 - 30 minutes - 28.5 MBA mother and C-Suite Coach. Welcome to part two of our special series, Mums In Lockdown. This is where working Mums in lockdown share firsthand their challenges, how they are navigating life, and any hacks they have discovered that enable them to inject more of what matters into each day. This week, we speak to Lisa Stephenson a high-impact leadership coach who works behind the scenes with C-Suite executives and high profile individuals... she's also a single mum of three. Strap yourselves ...
Mums In Lockdown - Part One | with Patty Di Parsia
October 13, 2021 04:23 - 46 minutes - 42.4 MBOff the back of the literature review I recently undertook for my psychology studies on how COVID-19 restrictions have accelerated mental health and wellbeing issues in women, I decided to create an interview series with Mums in lockdown. I wanted to share firsthand their challenges, how they are navigating life, and any hacks they have discovered that enables them to inject more of what matters into each day. Today we kick off with Patty Di Parisa a Clinical Psychologist who has over 20 yea...
How COVID-19 restrictions are accelerating mental health and wellbeing issues in Australian women
October 04, 2021 05:14 - 15 minutes - 14.2 MBWomen struggle to keep up. Over the past 18 months, I have watched a shift, a visible shift in mental health, in wellbeing, and a particular shift in women. I've felt the shift in myself. I couldn't ignore what I was seeing. It's the reason I have gone back to university to study psychology and why I chose to do my first assignment on how social isolation, the increased workload in the home, and escalating uncertainty driven by COVID-19 restrictions are accelerating the level of mental healt...
Abundance Mindset
September 27, 2021 02:59 - 17 minutes - 16.6 MBLessons at 46. This week I turned 46, clocked over 235 days in lockdown and counting, watched Melbourne tradies in their thousands protest against the right for freedom of choice, and experienced the biggest Melbourne earthquake in 50 years... all the while feeling truly abundant. In this episode of the Hacking Happy podcast, I want to share with you the lessons I have learnt in my 46 years that help me to cultivate an abundance mindset and extend to you a special invitation to join me in am...
I wish I had time to think
September 20, 2021 23:15 - 20 minutes - 18.8 MBThinkology is your advantage. If I asked you "What would be most helpful to you right now in making the change you seek?" what would your response be? One of the number one responses to this question, when it's posed at the end of the Hacking Happiness Assessment, is "the time to think, the time to reflect." Creating the space to be alone with one's thoughts in a way that is constructive rather than destructive in the current environment provides the basis for us to step forward with intent...
How To Say NO
September 13, 2021 01:22 - 15 minutes - 14.5 MBDeliver a NO with confidence. When was the last time you said "yes" to something you didn't want to do? For many people, I meet this is a daily practice that affects our productivity, our impact, our happiness, and our wellbeing. In this week's episode of the Hacking Happy podcast, I'm going to share with you 5 simple steps to help you start practicing your NO with intention and impact. Why? Because every unconscious "yes" you give to someone else could very well be a "NO" to creating the s...
Why I delivered a keynote in my bathing suit
September 04, 2021 07:20 - 21 minutes - 19.8 MBWhat scares you shapes you. What would be possible if you could unlock your most courageous self? How would that make you feel? This is the exact question I asked myself at the beginning of my hacking happiness journey and it provided the catalyst for cultivating a courage practice that transformed my life, and now enables me to support others in doing the same. In this week's podcast, I share the story behind why I delivered a keynote in my bathing suit in the hope that it might inspire yo...
It's Time To Make Fear Your Friend
August 19, 2021 07:53 - 20 minutes - 18.5 MBBehind every fear lies growth. When I say the word 'fear', what comes into your head? It's the one thing that feels pervasive at the moment here in Melbourne and I suspect in many other places experiencing long-term lockdowns. In this week's podcast, I want to challenge you to imagine what it would look like for you to make fear your friend? The reality is, fear provides us with the opportunity to look at the world through a different lens. To ask the question "what would happen if I used...
Lockdown Lessons
August 16, 2021 05:50 - 27 minutes - 25.4 MBAdaptability is your friend. Another week, another lockdown. Here in Melbourne, we are at No 6. I'm starting to feel like a bit of a lockdown expert, whilst wishing I wasn't. For me, it feels like so much can shift from one day to the next. Amazing opportunities get turned on, and shortly after, turned off. It's a little like a roller coaster ride that you can't take a break from. So, to help you smooth out the ups and downs, just a little in this week's podcast, I'm sharing the lessons I'...
We Don't Have To Be Alone Together
August 08, 2021 05:27 - 16 minutes - 15 MBThe Lonely Century Is Alive... I'm lonely. 5 Lockdowns and cutting off a massive human connection energy source will do that to you. I'm not alone in the traditional sense of the word, I'm surrounded by people who love me, be it most of the time virtually. But I feel lonely and I know I'm not the only one feeling this way. In this podcast, I wanted to talk honestly about loneliness and explore how it impacts us and a couple of simple ways to try and shift it when it presents. I'm drawing...
The Hell Yes List
July 28, 2021 22:38 - 19 minutes - 17.8 MBWhat have you said Hell Yes to in the last 12 months? What does this list tell you? Ever wondered what would happen if you used the insights from these two questions to create a Hell Yes list and used it to evaluate opportunities? This is exactly where we are going this week. Why? Because it's helped me navigate uncertainty, enabled me to keep myself in alignment daily, and injected more of what makes me feel good into each day... ...and I'm confident it can do the same for you. Subscrib...
What would you call your next chapter?
July 25, 2021 04:32 - 11 minutes - 10.3 MBProcessing feelings is powerful. I don't know about you but this time, since nature decided to send us a clear message, feels blurred around the edges, it's this weird combination of fast and slow, loss and awakening, grief and joy all mixed into a melting pot with the dial turned up to high. In this week's podcast we explore feelings: •what they tell us about us •why processing them is fundamental to our ability to navigate the uncertainty •where to start in a fun and creative way Subs...
Learning To Love A NO
July 17, 2021 07:40 - 19 minutes - 17.9 MBUnlock possibility through rejection: How often do you let fear of rejection of the answer being NO, stop you from asking for what you want? What if rejection actually held the key to possibility? Have you ever considered that you can't get a YESs unless you get NOs? That unlocking the door to what you want, to opportunity, is a numbers game. Unless we learn to love a NO and embrace rejection as a positive thing, we are leaving our hopes and dreams unlived and our skill in resilience underd...
Storytelling Your Way To Happy
July 11, 2021 23:28 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBStories connect us. "Where passion meets pain, we find purpose." Danielle McApline Johnson lives and breaths this mantra through her inspiring work as a documentary maker. Her most recent Directorial accolades include: •Beyond The Fire, a documentary series following the unsung heroes of the Black Summer Bushfire Crisis as they recreate life from ashes, and... •Behind The Sash' a documentary series following powerful Australian women as they fight for the voiceless in the social justice la...
Mental Wealth
July 02, 2021 04:50 - 20 minutes - 19 MBBuilding the skills to thrive. What are you seeing or not seeing that has you raging inside at the moment? For me, it's that the government has media conferences every day about COVID and restrictions yet there seems to be no nationwide pro-active education on how to help people navigate the uncertainty and build skills that will enable them to create mental wealth. We are around 18 months into this pandemic, with no end in sight and there is a clear opportunity to prioritise skill-building...