How I study using Obsidian
Based on Nicole van der Hoeven's video on YouTube. If you like this content, support the original creators by watching, liking and subscribing to their content.
She maximizes online learning by converting each course into structured Obsidian lesson pages, then rolling them into master pages and finally aggregating them into goal-specific topic pages.
Briefing
Spending more than €7,000 in online learning over a year didn’t just buy courses—it forced a system question: how do you turn short-lived lessons into long-term knowledge? The answer is a disciplined workflow built around Obsidian, where every course becomes structured notes, then gets recombined into living pages tied to personal goals—especially producing videos for YouTube.
A key reason the learning mix leans non-technical is practical: working in IT and being surrounded by technical peers already provides “incidental exposure.” So the paid courses skew toward developer advocacy and creator-focused skills—storytelling, speaking on camera, writing, and channel strategy—because those are the gaps that matter for how she packages ideas. The biggest single purchase is Part-Time YouTuber Academy (PTYA) for €1,326.72 (essential edition), taken around the start of her YouTube channel. Even though it wasn’t perfect, it delivered three accountability groups—shared objectives with other aspiring creators—which she credits as worth the money on its own.
To make cohort and self-paced learning reusable, she uses a repeatable Obsidian template for “course lessons” that resembles a meeting log: date, title, a summary filled in at the end, and a detailed “log” section capturing what was said. She tags lessons (including a “TVZ” tag) so they can be pulled into a one- or two-sentence overview via Dataview queries. Over time, those lesson pages roll up into master pages—like a PTYA page listing weeks and meetings, plus a list of people she met (with locations and YouTube channels) so she can keep collaborating.
The course list shows how different formats feed different strengths. Casey Neistat’s filmmaking and storytelling class (€226.32) is valued for creativity over business polish. Ultraspeaking (€937.04 plus €134/year for the platform) targets confidence speaking to an audience, with an unexpected payoff for D&D—four hours of talking that turns camera anxiety into practice. Ship 30 for 30 (€318.42) pushes daily writing for Twitter using Typeshare templates for “atomic essays,” which she then repurposes for video scripting to avoid blank-page paralysis. Master YouTube by Matt D’Avella (€281.12) adds an integrity-and-intent lens for building a channel.
The real leverage comes after the notes exist. She builds a dedicated “producing videos” page that aggregates insights across courses, using references to show where ideas originated and then layering her own frameworks on top. She cites examples like combining idea-generation workflows from Ship 30 for 30 with signals concepts and adding material attributed to Matt D’Avella, then connecting everything back to PKM-driven production.
Beyond courses, she also uses subscription platforms for on-demand learning: Coursera (€365/year) for university-backed MOOCs (without needing certificates) and Skillshare (€143.88/year) for creativity and video-adjacent skills, including language learning. For apps, Brilliant (€83.85/year, free via sponsorship) becomes a STEM fundamentals engine that she imports into Obsidian using Readwise and the Readwise Obsidian plugin—often doing the learning on mobile first, then using the wiki content later. Language-learning apps like Duolingo Plus Family, Headspace, Italki, and Memrise round out the system.
The throughline is that learning only pays off when it’s processed into notes and revisited. With that archive in place, she expects to keep extracting value years later—turning today’s courses into tomorrow’s reference library rather than disposable consumption.
Cornell Notes
The core idea is to maximize online learning by converting every course into structured Obsidian notes, then recombining those notes into goal-driven master pages. Cohort and self-paced programs are logged using a consistent “course lesson” template (date, title, end-of-session summary, and detailed notes), tagged for retrieval, and rolled up into master pages via Dataview. The biggest purchases—like Part-Time YouTuber Academy—are justified not only by content but by accountability groups and ongoing connections. Long-term value comes from aggregation: she builds a “producing videos” page that merges frameworks from multiple courses, adds her own spin, and links back to references. This turns short-term lessons into a reusable knowledge system that she can revisit years later.
How does she prevent course notes from becoming “dead” information?
Why was Part-Time YouTuber Academy worth the largest spend?
What role do templates play in reducing creative friction?
How does she handle different learning styles across courses?
What’s her strategy for on-demand learning and importing it into Obsidian?
How does she justify learning costs over time?
Review Questions
- What specific steps turn a single course lesson into a reusable Obsidian artifact (from template to master page to aggregation)?
- How do accountability groups from cohort learning change the value equation compared with self-paced content alone?
- Pick one course and explain how its lessons were repurposed into her broader “producing videos” framework.
Key Points
- 1
She maximizes online learning by converting each course into structured Obsidian lesson pages, then rolling them into master pages and finally aggregating them into goal-specific topic pages.
- 2
A consistent “course lesson” template (date, title, end-of-session summary, detailed log notes) makes lessons searchable and easy to summarize later.
- 3
Dataview queries and tags (including “TVZ”) help generate one- to two-sentence overviews and track which notes still need processing.
- 4
She justifies major course spending through tangible outcomes like accountability groups (PTYA) and practical skill gains (e.g., camera confidence from Ultraspeaking).
- 5
She reduces creative friction by using writing templates (Ship 30 for 30 / Typeshare) and reusing them for video scripting.
- 6
She treats long-term value as the payoff: notes must be revisited and recombined so learning remains useful years later.
- 7
For app-based learning, she uses Readwise and the Readwise Obsidian plugin to import highlights into Obsidian, then relies on wiki pages for deeper context.