Jessica Janzen’s Philosophy

Jessica Janzen’s philosophy on how to bring joy began during one of the hardest periods of her life. After her young son Lewiston was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, her family was told there was no cure or treatment and that their time with him would be limited. While walking outside Alberta Children’s Hospital with her husband, Janzen had a thought: they were going to “bring the joy.” She did not know exactly what that meant yet. Soon after, a friend brought a Bluetooth speaker into the hospital room, and a simple dance party with their children gave the idea a shape.

For Janzen, the lesson was not that people should pretend difficult circumstances are good. It was almost the opposite. Sometimes, she explains, you have to be responsible for bringing joy into a difficult situation. That distinction became the foundation of her approach to finding joy during hard times.

How to Bring Joy Without Pretending Everything Is Fine

“Choose joy” can sound simple when life is going well. Janzen’s experience taught her that it can feel very different when you are facing something you never would have chosen. Her approach begins with what she and host Dr. Greg Wells describe as radical acceptance: acknowledging the situation you are actually in rather than denying it. From there, you can decide how you want to show up within that reality.

For Janzen, grief and joy are not opposites. She could feel sadness, anger, frustration and sorrow while still deliberately creating moments that felt good. She describes these as “pockets of joy” and believes that sometimes it becomes our responsibility to bring those moments into our lives. Bringing joy does not require you to erase difficult emotions. It means making room for something good alongside them.

Stop Reacting to the Room and Start Setting the Tone

Janzen describes another shift that happened during her son’s illness. She stopped wanting to simply respond to the emotional “temperature” around her and instead wanted to help set it. She knew people entering the hospital room would naturally feel the weight of what her family was experiencing. But if the time with her son was limited, she did not want every moment to feel dark and heavy. She wanted people to experience joy with him too.

That principle can apply to much more ordinary moments as well. You cannot always control what is happening around you, but you can consider what energy you are contributing to the situation. Instead of simply reacting to the mood of a room, Janzen encourages people to think about how they can influence it.

Pay Attention to What You Consume

Another part of Janzen’s practice is what she calls “curated consumption.” She talks about consumption broadly. It is not only what you eat, but also what you watch, what you listen to, who you spend time with and the kinds of conversations happening around you.

Janzen intentionally limits content that she knows can pull her into a negative mental state. At the same time, she seeks out stories and people that inspire her and help her see what is possible. This does not mean shutting out every difficult subject. Instead, her approach is about becoming more conscious of what you repeatedly put into your environment and how it affects the way you show up.

That includes relationships. Janzen speaks about surrounding herself with people who take care of themselves physically and mentally, encourage one another and create a sense of connection. The people and environments around us can influence our mindset, which makes choosing those environments intentionally an important part of her approach.

Use Movement to Practice Joy

When Wells asks Janzen how someone can begin taking a step toward joy, one of her first recommendations is practical: go to a group fitness class. It could be dancing, lifting weights, joining a run club or another form of movement that gets you around people who are also taking care of themselves.

Janzen also makes it clear that movement does not have to mean an intense workout. During the conversation, she gives examples as simple as walking outside, lifting weights or having a dance party in the kitchen. The key is not perfection. If travel, work or life disrupts her routine for a week, she does not use that as a reason to quit altogether. She simply returns to it.

That same approach can make practicing joy feel more realistic. You do not have to create an ideal routine and follow it perfectly. You can keep coming back to small actions that help you feel more present, connected and engaged with your life.

Reframe the Thoughts That Pull You Away From the Moment

One of Janzen’s simplest mental reframes is the idea that powerful thoughts lead to powerful actions. She explains this through an everyday example of driving her children somewhere while her mind starts running through everything else she should be doing.

Instead of treating that drive as wasted time, she tries to reframe it as time she gets to spend with her children. When she notices herself spiralling into thoughts about not keeping up or having too much to do, she pauses and asks whether the thought is powerful and whether it serves her.

The goal is not to pretend the to-do list has disappeared. It is to notice when your thoughts are pulling you completely out of the moment you are actually living. A traffic jam might still be a traffic jam, but it could also be an opportunity to have a conversation with your child that you would have missed if your attention remained locked on frustration.

Create More Joy Through Connection

Connection comes up repeatedly throughout the interview. For Janzen, group fitness is not only about exercise. It puts her around other people. Her Friday routine includes working out with a group and then getting coffee together.

Instead of keeping the conversation at the surface, she sometimes asks everyone at the table one question and has the group listen to each person’s answer. The questions can be playful or more reflective. That turns an ordinary coffee into an opportunity for people to know one another better.

You do not necessarily need an established group to try the same idea. The larger principle in Janzen’s approach is to participate. Move closer instead of staying completely on the sidelines. Say hello, give someone a high five or start a conversation. Those small points of connection are part of how she practices joy rather than simply waiting for it to appear.

Bring Joy by Making It About Someone Else

When Janzen talks about periods when she has struggled herself, one of the strategies she returns to is service. Her advice is to make it not about yourself. For her, true service means giving without expecting recognition or even expecting the act to make you feel better. You help because you can help.

Later in the interview, she gives a simple example. At a coffee shop, Janzen felt compelled to tell a stranger that she liked his glasses. She gave the compliment and went on with her day. She later learned that the man was undergoing cancer treatment and struggling with his appearance. His wife had posted about the interaction because the unexpected compliment had changed his mood that day.

Janzen’s takeaway was not that every compliment will lead to a dramatic story. It was that you may never know what a small act means to someone else. A simple gesture can have an impact that you may never see.

How to Practice Joy in Everyday Life

Near the end of the interview, Wells asks Janzen for one practice people can install in their daily lives. Her answer is simple: start complimenting people. Not vague flattery, but an honest and specific compliment offered without expecting anything in return.

It is a fitting example of Janzen’s broader philosophy. Bringing joy does not always require changing your circumstances. It can mean accepting the moment you are in, paying attention to your thoughts, moving your body, choosing your environment carefully, connecting with another person or giving someone an unexpected moment of kindness.

You do not have to feel joyful every second to practice joy. You simply have to notice where you have an opportunity to bring some. Today, that opportunity might be as small as telling someone something genuinely good that you noticed about them.

Every workplace faces difficult seasons.

Projects change direction. Workloads grow. Important conversations get delayed. Employees feel stretched, and even experienced leaders can become unsure about what to do next.

A good keynote speaker cannot remove these challenges. What they can do is help people look at them differently. During a recent workplace session on resilience, employees were encouraged to examine the thoughts and habits influencing their daily decisions. The conversation was honest, practical, and highly interactive. Instead of simply telling people to “stay positive,” the speaker gave them a useful way to understand what was keeping them stuck.

One message stood out: Powerful thoughts lead to powerful actions. It is a simple idea, but it has real value for teams navigating growth, uncertainty, and change.

Starting With What Is Working

The session began with a question that is not asked often enough at work: What is something you are proud of?

Participants shared both professional and personal wins. One employee celebrated the release of a major sustainability report, while another recognized a colleague who had successfully managed a complicated project through several changes. Others talked about becoming more confident in a new position, completing a race, helping a family member, or starting a wellness program.

These moments were not included simply to make people feel good. They served a practical purpose. Most of us can quickly identify what went wrong during the week. We remember the unfinished task, the missed opportunity, or the conversation we wish had gone differently. Recognizing progress helps balance that habit and gives people evidence that they are learning and moving forward.

An effective keynote speaker creates room for this kind of reflection. Employees have an opportunity to pause, recognize their progress, and remember that success is not limited to major milestones. Sometimes, recognizing a small step forward can change the way someone sees their own ability to handle what comes next.

The Stories Behind Our Decisions

The session then moved into a deeper conversation about the stories people tell themselves. Imagine a business owner who wants to spend more time creating and less time managing small administrative tasks. The business is growing, and the owner knows that responsibilities need to be delegated more clearly.

The solution may appear obvious: speak with the team and clarify expectations. But the owner keeps delaying the conversation because of thoughts such as, “What if my employee thinks I do not appreciate her?” “What if I upset her?” or “What if she decides to leave?” Eventually, the owner may convince themselves that it is easier to keep doing the work personally.

These thoughts create fear and uncertainty. The conversation does not happen, responsibilities remain unclear, and the owner continues to feel overwhelmed. The workload is part of the problem, but it is not the whole problem. The story attached to the situation is also influencing the result.

This is where a strong keynote speaker can make a difference. By asking thoughtful questions, the speaker helps people recognize the beliefs that are shaping their actions. In this example, the owner could replace fear with a more useful thought: Clarity is kindness.

Clear expectations do not have to be an attack. They can help both people understand what is needed, work together on a solution, and build a healthier professional relationship. Changing the way someone interprets a situation can change the way they respond to it.

A Simple Model for Understanding What Keeps Us Stuck

One of the most practical ideas from the session was a five-part thought model: circumstance, thought, feeling, action, and result.

The circumstance is what is happening. The thought is what we believe about that circumstance. That thought influences how we feel, and those feelings affect what we do. Our actions then contribute to the final result.

For example, an employee may be dealing with several important projects at once. The circumstance is that there are multiple deadlines and responsibilities competing for attention. The employee may think, “If I stop working, I will fall even further behind.” That thought can create feelings of guilt, pressure, and exhaustion.

Those feelings may lead the employee to keep working without taking enough time to recharge. Eventually, they become more tired, less focused, and increasingly overwhelmed. The employee may not be able to reduce the workload immediately, but they can question the belief that working longer is always the best solution.

A more helpful thought might be, “Taking time to recharge helps me return with more focus.” That thought can lead to a healthier action. The employee might close the laptop at the end of the day, read a book, attend a fitness class, spend time with family, or protect part of the weekend.

The goal is not to care less about work. It is to find a more sustainable way to do good work.

Finding Words That Feel Real

Changing a thought does not mean pretending everything is fine. People can usually tell when a statement feels forced. If someone is overwhelmed, repeating “I love everything about my job” will not suddenly change the situation. Their mind is unlikely to believe it.

A useful new thought needs to feel honest and personally meaningful. One participant in the session wanted to spend more time reading. She knew reading helped her relax, but she often felt too tired to pick up a book. Instead, she would choose something easier, such as watching videos or scrolling on her phone.

At first, the conversation framed reading as a form of self-care. That language did not feel particularly motivating to her. After exploring the idea further, she found a phrase that connected with her: “Reading is replenishment.”

That wording felt more personal. Reading was no longer another activity she should try to fit into her schedule. It became something that could restore her energy and help her feel like herself again.

This is an important lesson for any leader or keynote speaker. The right words are not always the most polished words. They are the words people can believe and use in their own lives.

Moving From Insight to Action

A keynote presentation should provide more than a temporary boost of motivation. Employees should leave knowing what they can do next.

For the participant who wanted to read more, that meant setting a clear goal. Instead of saying, “I hope to finish my book this summer,” she committed to finishing it by July 31. That small change made the goal more concrete. There was now a clear deadline, and she could decide how many pages or chapters she needed to read each week.

The same approach can be applied to workplace goals. Instead of saying, “We need to communicate better,” a team can schedule a short weekly check-in. Instead of saying, “I need to delegate more,” a leader can book a conversation and prepare three responsibilities to discuss. Instead of saying, “I should take better care of myself,” an employee can choose one evening each week when work ends at a specific time.

Progress becomes easier when the next step is clear. Turning an intention into a specific action gives people something they can actually begin.

New Habits Take Practice

People often understand what they need to do. The difficult part is following through consistently. Old habits feel natural because they are familiar. If someone has spent years avoiding conflict, one workshop will not make difficult conversations comfortable overnight. If an employee is used to feeling guilty whenever they rest, that feeling may not disappear after one weekend.

New responses need repetition. A person can reinforce a more helpful thought by writing it on a note near their desk, reading it before a challenging meeting, connecting it to a specific action, recording examples of when it helped, asking a colleague to check in, and reviewing their progress at the end of each week.

These actions create evidence. When a leader has a clear conversation and the relationship improves, it becomes easier to believe that clarity can be kind. When an employee takes a proper break and returns with better focus, it becomes easier to believe that rest supports good work.

Change often happens through small moments like these. A keynote session can introduce the idea, but meaningful change comes when people continue applying it after they leave the room.

What a Keynote Speaker Should Bring to Your Event

A memorable story and a confident stage presence are valuable, but they are not enough on their own. The right keynote speaker should understand the audience and connect the presentation to situations people actually face. Employees should recognize themselves in the examples and leave with ideas they can use.

A strong workplace keynote should connect with employees at different levels of an organization, make complex ideas easy to understand, encourage honest participation without making people uncomfortable, and provide practical tools that employees can use after the event. The speaker should also be able to balance humour, empathy, and useful insight while adapting the message to the organization’s goals.

Most importantly, participants should leave with a clear next step rather than simply a temporary feeling of motivation. The strongest workplace sessions feel like conversations, not lectures. They make room for humour, personal stories, thoughtful questions, and honest discussion.

That is often what makes the message stay with people.

Creating Possibility at Work

Resilience is not about pretending that difficult situations are easy. It is about becoming more aware of how we respond to them.

We cannot control every deadline, organizational change, or unexpected problem. We can learn to notice the thoughts influencing our decisions. We can question the stories that keep us stuck. We can choose a more useful next step.

A skilled keynote speaker helps people begin that process. The result is not simply a motivated audience. It is a group of employees who understand themselves a little better, communicate more clearly, and feel more capable of moving forward.

Sometimes meaningful change begins with one honest question:

What thought would help me take the next step?

Corporate & Business Events

Jessica Janzen delivers high-impact keynote presentations for corporate and business events across Calgary and Canada. Her sessions are designed to help organizations build resilient teams, strengthen leadership, and create a workplace culture that supports both performance and well-being. With a direct and relatable approach, Jessica connects with professionals at every level—from executives to frontline teams—offering practical strategies that can be applied immediately in the workplace.

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Corporate & Business Events

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Corporate & Business Events

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