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Wisepreneurs Podcast

Eliška Šestáková

Eliška Šestáková Profile Photo

Personal Knowledge Management and Academic on Theoretical Computer Science

Eliška Šestáková is an esteemed Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Information Technology at Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague, where she has been shaping minds for over a decade. With a strong foundation in theoretical computer science, she teaches courses on Automata and Grammars, Algorithms and Graphs, and Presentation Skills, guiding the next generation of tech innovators.

Her academic journey began as a Teaching Assistant, where she honed her expertise in programming and theoretical informatics, particularly in Java and formal languages. Her dedication to research led her to work on the TACR grant project with Profinit s.r.o., focusing on Compiler Construction and SQL Analysis, bridging the gap between complex theoretical concepts and practical applications in software engineering.

Beyond academia, Eliška advocates for personal knowledge management, especially through the Zettelkasten method. As a thought leader, she helps individuals tackle information overload, empowering them to organise and process the vast amounts of data they encounter daily. Her popular “Mysterious New Notes” newsletter and other content are valuable resources for boosting productivity and personal growth.

Eliška’s influence reaches far beyond the classroom. She continues shaping how information is managed and understood, making her a pivotal figure in theoretical informatics and personal productivity.

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Sept. 6, 2024

Eliška Šestáková Building Smarter Knowledge Systems for Independent Professional Practice

Eliška Šestáková is a Czech academic, note-taking expert, and Zettelkasten practitioner who teaches at the Faculty of Information Technology at Czech Technical University in Prague. She discovered the Zettelkasten method through Sönke Ahrens' How to Take Smart Notes while struggling to write her PhD dissertation, and it transformed both her academic work and her personal knowledge management. Eliška distinguishes between two uses of notes: professional development (reading, courses, absorbing knowledge that compounds) and project execution (capturing where you left off so you can resume in minutes after weeks away). Her approach to deciding what to read is counterintuitive: she does not start from a reading list but from her current problems and questions. She links potential sources to those questions in her system, and when a problem becomes urgent enough, the sources linked to it become the priority. This ensures motivation because taking notes on the wrong material is what makes …