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How To Learn Anything Faster With The Feynman Technique

The Feynman Technique is a 4 step method for understanding concepts quickly and thoroughly in under 20 minutes. Step 1 is to choose a concept to learn. Step 2 is to explain the concept as if teaching a 5 year old. Step 3 is to pinpoint any gaps in knowledge and re-learn from sources. Step 4 is to simplify language and use analogies. The technique forces the learner to interpret and simplify ideas to a level where they can teach others, improving their own understanding in the process.

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1K views6 pages

How To Learn Anything Faster With The Feynman Technique

The Feynman Technique is a 4 step method for understanding concepts quickly and thoroughly in under 20 minutes. Step 1 is to choose a concept to learn. Step 2 is to explain the concept as if teaching a 5 year old. Step 3 is to pinpoint any gaps in knowledge and re-learn from sources. Step 4 is to simplify language and use analogies. The technique forces the learner to interpret and simplify ideas to a level where they can teach others, improving their own understanding in the process.

Uploaded by

Kevin Smith
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to Learn Anything Faster With The Feynman

Technique
Blending articles by Scott Young and Floris Wolswijk
I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something. Richard Feynman
The Feynman Technique helps you to understand, recall and explain anything in under 20 minutes. Do you
want to know how; use the framework below

Why
Because learning is not about remembering something difficult, but it is about making things easier. The
Feynman technique can be used for anything, from understanding a simple problem to grasping quantum
physics. By forcing yourself to make something easier, you will remember it better!

Step One: Choose Your Concept


The first step is to choose the concept you want to understand. Take a blank piece of
paper and write the name of that concept at the top of the page.

Everything from gravity our solar system to business cards or bonsai trees goes. The Feynman technique can be
used to tackle most of the worlds concepts. Even if a concept consists of multiple parts (e.g. how wars start),
you can use multiple paragraphs to explain itor

Step Two: Pretend Youre Teaching the Idea to a New Student (Explain it
like I am 5)
The second step is to write out an explanation, as if you were teaching it to someone
like I am 5 years old who didnt understand the subject. This forces you to make it really simple. You
cannot use words like transpose or novelle, keep it simple. One other way, most useful for explaining
technology, is to put yourself in the shoes of your (grand)parents. This has the advantage that you will not
accidentally be patronizing your public. This is crucial because in explaining to yourself the ideas
you already understand, as well as the ones you dont, you gain a better understanding
and pinpoint exactly the details you dont understand.

Step Three: Pinpoint Your Knowledge Gap / Whenever You Get Stuck, Go
Back to the Book
Whenever you get stuck, go back to the reference materials, lectures or a teacher
assistant and re--read or re--learn the material until you do get it enough that you can
explain it on the paper.
If you cannot find the words to describe your concept in layman terms, get your nose back into the books.
Making a simple explanation thus pushes you towards really understanding and interpreting what you read, not
just skimming the text.

Step Four: Simplify the Language and Concepts

Wherever you create a wordy or confusing explanation, try to either simplify the
language, or create an analogy to understand it better. Youll notice I did both of these in
this quick demonstration. I simplified the language of torque, to explain it in terms of
twisting. Second, I was able to describe it through analogy, by taking the torque vector
and describing it as a corkscrew motion, tightening with right or loosening with left.
If in the end your concept is still too hard to grasp, try simplifying it once more. Sometimes it is better to lose
some details along the way if that makes it easier for you to remember a concept (versus forgetting it
altogether).
Examples
1. Gravity is the attraction of very large objects on smaller objects, like the earth on you and me
2. A novelle is short book that tells a story just from the perspective of the main character in the book
3. A bonsai tree is a miniature tree. Just like your miniature car, it is made of the same things as the big
thing, but only smaller

Step Four: Simplify Create Analogies


Working with abstract concepts, or is your concept still just too difficult for the 5 year old you? Try using an
analogy to link the concept to something you already know. This has the advantage of connecting old and new
knowledge in your head and helps you better remember the new concept:

When to Use
Almost always. Use it to explain things to yourself when you are studying, use it to explain difficult concepts to
others (e.g. in this blog), or of course when talking to your 5 year old niece/nephew.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool. Richard
Feynman
You can use this technique for understanding mathematical or technical classes, carefully
walking through the steps and explaining it to yourself. But you can also use this
technique in non--technical classes to understand big ideas, or even to put together a
large amount of facts in the same place, so you can understand them in context.
How can you use this technique?
If youre trying to understand an idea, you can walk through this technique very
slowly to pinpoint exactly what you dont understand, so you can go to the
textbook, lecture notes or a teacher and figure out exactly what detail youre missing.
If youre trying to remember an idea for a test, you can focus on creating better
analogies or simplify the words even more to understand it more vividly. Finally, if
you want to use this technique to study for tests, go through the technique without
looking at your reference materials.
Thats a really good way to self--test, to see if you understand the ideas deeply.
Because if you can go through and explain the material, without looking back at your
textbook, that means you really understand the ideas.
Go use this technique right now!

Take out a blank piece of paper and go through the technique on an idea youre currently
learning.
It will only take twenty minutes, but if you get in the habit, it is an excellent way to learn
ideas better.

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