Everything Starts with a Note-taking System

If you're new to my channel, I'm Mischa. I teach DevOps, Kubernetes, and note-taking to accelerate tech careers. My communities bring together over 2000 people, from beginners to seasoned engineers.

My Journey:
28 yrs old: Started working as a nurse after 5 years as a Project Manager in the oil industry
31 yrs old: Made a new start with $0 to my name.
32 yrs old: Learned DevOps from scratch and landed my first junior position in just 6 months.
33 yrs old: Doubled my salary by securing my first DevOps consulting role.
34 yrs old: Became a Microsoft MVP and entrepreneur, living my dream life.

Today:
I work as a freelance DevOps engineer, create content and run the #1 DevOps Community on Skool.

I'm a strong believer in sharing knowledge and helping others achieve the same success like I did.

[mischavandenburg]

Get access to FREE resources on DevOps, Kubernetes & Note Taking:

[guvrdecvu.hgvjkuhtc]

Thank you for actually laying a foundation instead of rushing in. It seems so rare that people share this critical step.

[dameanvil]

0:56 🏆 Achievements: Misha's notes have helped achieve significant milestones like career change, blogging, growing a YouTube channel, and obtaining certifications.
1:54 🚀 Career Shift: Misha transitioned from being a nursing assistant to a DevOps engineer through dedication and passion for tech.
3:32 📚 Learning Techniques: Productivity YouTubers like Ali Abdaal and Tiago Forte inspired Misha's organized note-taking system.
4:17 🗂️ Organized System: Effective note-taking requires a structured and intentional system to manage and utilize information.
10:03 🖊️ Creation: A robust note-taking system fuels content creation like blog posts and videos.
13:29 ✍️ Writing as Thinking: Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking; practicing writing improves overall understanding and communication.
15:52 🏭 Input-Output System: View yourself as a factory processing input (content) to create output (blog posts, videos).

[deathdefier]

Douglas Hoffstader told us the basis of all human cognition is the ability to find patterns analogous to our past experiences in the knowledge we seek.

[yugshende]

While I haven’t kept up with my note taking like I did two months ago. I was already feeling the effects of a lack of structure in my work and personal life. The problem is that when you’re “surfing” the period of wave you are taking notes, you feel like you’re on the top of the mountain and magically know how to get to any part of the mountain but the moment you slip off even a little you start to lose grip quicker and quicker. Climbing never gets quicker, at best it’s linear speed but losing habit is exponentially faster.


So yeah, I agree, “EVERYTHING” begins with a good note taking system

[alfarseniko]

Thank you, Misha! It was one of the videos which you have to keep yourself seated. No dopamine, no cheap attraction, just pure knowledge. Appreciated.

[outofhere]

Clear thinking becomes clear writing, one can't exist without the other. Interesting quote.

[lhcunha]

There are several people commenting that the video is too long for its purpose, but I totally disagree with them. The information is too valuable for just one short. Thank you mate!🍻

[tiagosutter]

I believe i'm decent at my job, and i was able to go through college, and I keep improving, but unfortunately i never committed to a well structured note taking system. It all makes total sense to me, but i could never make it work for me, and now it is harder to find time to stop and optimize. I'm looking forward to your videos, maybe they will bring the insight i need. Thank you!

[deepfuchsia]

It’s funny that you haven’t added timestamps to a video about how to be more productive and have nice notes

[tanjimashraf]

Your advice on note taking gave me a new degree of inspiration, it reminds me of taking & creating notes whenever I faces new challenges to implement new features. But I realized that I should also share them with my peers whenever they get stuck on something similar. Thanks for such suggestion.

[toolbelt]

Thanks for this. My note-taking system is getting better all the time thanks to your courses on the topic. The better my intention, the better my notes, as you say.

[FigueMonk]

Hi, Mischa. I'm just starting my career in technology, and thought the same thing you described at the beginning of this video, sharpening the axe. Grateful to have stumbled upon your video, thank you very much.

[nmsayn]

I started to believe what he had to say when he fully described my PC's file structure.

[cubeddu]

I agree 💯% note taking has taken my career on the right path. As much as we would like to retain info in our memory, note taking is a skill many take for granted!

[athungerforce]

Great metaphor on imagining your brain as a factory, taking youtube, blog posts, ect; as a input, and writing, videos, and social media content as output!

[RealNia]

From minute 2:00 to 3:00 is a very powerful message for every human being

[AZJuno]

Great material. I have similar experience as yours: my memory, notes, prepared in advanced statistics (just because I was amused about some question) helped me to become an employee who is referenced often as someone with the answer. Also I've always ready to write down simple instructions in wiki to faster answer repetitious questions. So it also helped me to maintain my skills to clearly describe any aspect of my knowledge.

[jjhatnm]

Learning to use OneNote was a game changer for me.

[NoelNomans]

I am currently 1 min in, and you already convinced me to subscribe to your channel. Props to you!