About

A Quest for the World’s Best Insights and Actions for Work and Life!

Welcome to Sources of Insight, the place to help you become a smarter, more creative, and more capable you.

Explore and expand what you are capable of!

Sources of Insight is a living library and learning platform to help you realize your full potential in all aspects of your life:

Master your mind
Master you body
Master your emotions
Master your career
Master your finances
Master your relationships
Master your spiritual intelligence
Master fun and do what makes you come alive

I love what you are capable of.

Proven Practices for Personal Effectiveness!

Explore what you are capable of!

Join me on a quest for better insights, better results for work and life.

Let’s expand and explore the art and science of human potential.

I believe everybody deserves a chance at a better life.

I also believe that life’s better with skill.

I empower people with proven practices for personal effectiveness.

Stand on the Shoulders of Giants!

Draw from the wisdom of the ages and modern sages.

One of my favorite phrases when telling folks about Sources of Insight is:
Stand on the Shoulders of Giants

Sources of Insight draws from books, people, and quotes, and features special guest stars from around the world that are the best at what they do, including top experts and best-selling authors.

You don’t have to start from scratch.

Sources of Insight puts wisdom at your finger tips all in one garden of greatness.

Learn proven practices for personal effectiveness and “stand on the shoulders of giants.”

Skilled for Life!

The purpose of Sources of Insight is to help you on your quest to be awesome at work and life and provide you with principles, patterns, and practices for getting results.

My mission is simple:

My mission in life is to improve the quality of life for as many people as I can, as long as I can.

To put it another way:

Help you operate at a higher level with proven practices for personal effectiveness so you can achieve your dreams.

The vision:

Skilled for Work and Life.

The way:

Personal Effectiveness Skills for Work and Life.

Source of Insight is a source for skilled living featuring life hacks, principles, patterns, and practices for personal empowerment.

Learn skills to pay the bills and lead a better life.

Sources of Insight puts a focus on mind, body, emotions, career, finance, relationships, and fun, as well as topics like leadership, personal development, and emotional intelligence.

Realize Your Potential the Agile Way

Sources of Insight helps you “flourish with skill.”

Here is the vision in a nutshell:

People from all walks of life are empowered with the skills necessary to move forward, to realize their potential, and achieve great things.

By chunking your personal growth down into smaller phases, you can adapt and respond, as you learn and grow. This ability to pivot is the backbone of agility.

And this is the Agile Way.

Guiding Principles

A few simple rules serve me well:

Life’s not a spectator’s sport.
Absorb what’s useful; reject the rest.
It’s not what’s on your plate, it’s how you eat it.
Don’t take life too seriously, or you’ll never get out alive.
Success is a journey, not a destination.
Live more, laugh more, learn more, love more.
Roll with the punches.
Whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.
If you fall down, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, carry the lessons forward.
Don’t seek to be better than others; seek to be better than yourself.

About Me

Hi, I’m J.D. Meier …

I inspire the world through innovation, entrepreneurship, and personal development.

My super skill is sharing and scaling expertise. I do so through insights and actions in the form of timeless principles, success patterns, proven practices, and emerging practices.

I work through a lot of challenges. You can read my story of personal transformation, but the big idea is this: life gets better with skill.

I help underdogs, leaders, and achievers make the most of what they’ve got. I have a passion for excellence and a passion for getting results. I’m also a fan of better ways for better days.

By day, I am Director of Digital Business Transformation at Microsoft. As part of my day job, I learn and lead the Agile Way. Each project is a new team, a new adventure, and there are new lessons learned.

I’ve authored several technical books, where I write prescriptive guidance to share and scale patterns and practices for success. Getting Results the Agile Way is my first non-technical book, and it’s designed to help you make the most of work and life, using success patterns. It’s also a highly effective time management system.

I’m also an avid mentor at work. I regularly work with several mentees to help them improve their effectiveness. This includes everything from improving communication skills to leadership skills or basic project management.

Over the course of leading many projects, many teams, and many adventures, I’ve learned how to get results and balance life. I continuously invest in what I call my “Life Hot Spots Framework”, which are the hot spots in life: Mind, Body, Emotions, Career, Financial, Relationships, and Fun. I continuously study these Life Hot Spots on a quest for better insights and actions, for work and life. I’m a fan of finding and sharing the principles, patterns and proven practices that work in the real-world under extreme conditions.

By night, I share stories, strategies, and skills to lead a better life through Sources of Insight.