The Feynman Technique: How to Learn Anything Faster and More Efficiently

This means that if you are able to explain a complex concept in simple terms, you have a good understanding of the concept at hand. Doing this will also help you recognize your problem areas or areas of confusion, because this will be where you either get stuck when explaining the concept or where you have to resort to using complex terminology.

The Feynman Technique is the perfect strategy for learning something new, deepening your understanding of a concept, enhancing your recall of certain ideas, or reviewing for tests.

This mental model was named after the Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, who was recognized as someone who could clearly explain complex topics in a way that everybody-even those without degrees in the sciences-could understand. He was able to take the mystery out of complex scientific principles. Feynman was also named "The Smartest Man in the World" by Omni magazine in 1979.

While studying at Princeton, Feynman began recording and connecting the information he knew with the things that he either didn't know or didn't understand. In the end, he had a complete notebook of topics and subjects that he had disassembled, translated, reassembled, and written down in simple terms.

Although the technique was used by a physicist, that doesn't mean that it is impossible for others to utilize the Feynman Technique as an effective tool for learning faster. Anyone can use this technique to:

• Understand ideas that you can't grasp.
• Remember concepts that you understand but tend to forget.
• Study efficiently for exams.

This learning strategy is effective for quickly learning both technical and non-technical concepts, and is summarized in four succinct steps.

There are several benefits to using this learning technique. First, it helps you gain a complete understanding of what you're learning. Once you fully understand the information at hand, you are better equipped to make informed and intelligent decisions regarding the subject. Taking this one step further, you can use the Feynman Technique if you are struggling with tough subject matter, which is one of the largest obstacles to learning.

Using the Feynman Technique allows you to apply the concepts that you learn to real-world problems because you are able to grasp the concepts and processes of complex ideas. It also helps to improve your teaching skills, as you use this technique to essentially teach yourself the fundamentals of a subject. This also increases your capacity to use critical thinking skills about a topic.

Feynman's Technique is especially beneficial for people who find writing to be a challenge. Feynman did not prefer to write his knowledge down on paper like many scientists do. Instead, he used verbal communication as the foundation for the majority of his published works. He preferred to dictate his books and memoirs, and the scientific papers that are credited to him were transcribed from his lectures.

Feynman relied heavily on verbal communication, such as when he used cartoonish diagrams to explain highly scientific principles. Feynman could easily tap into complex ideas using shapes, lines, and drawings. This method helped him strip away confusing language and permitted the power of storytelling to take precedence.

Here are the four core steps used in the Feynman Technique to accomplish your learning goals.

Write the concept as a heading on a blank piece of paper or notebook page.

After choosing the concept, write down everything that you already know about the subject on your paper. Think of every small piece of information that you can recall about the subject or have learned in the past. Keep this sheet handy to continue to write down what you learn.

Explain the concept using your own words, pretending that you are teaching it to someone else. Make sure that you use plain, simple language, without limiting your teaching to simply stating a definition. Put yourself up to the challenge of explaining an example or two of the subject to make sure that you can apply the concept to real life.

Review the explanation that you came up with, and pinpoint the areas where you were not clear or you felt your explanation was shaky. Then, return to your source material and notes to better your understanding. Practice step #2 again with your new, revised notes.

​ To do this, you will want to use simple terms when you write the ideas or concepts in your own words. While complex, subject-specific jargon sounds cool, it confuses people and urges them to stop paying attention. Replace technical terms with simpler words, and think of how you could explain your lesson to a child.

Children are not able to understand jargon or dense vocabulary. Because science is filled with complex terms, Feynman's diagrams became valuable to people who were struggling to teach and to people who were struggling to understand. His charts were able to simply explain things that other scientists took hours to lecture students on in an attempt to teach them.

If a concept is highly technical or complicated, analogies are also a good way to simplify them. Analogies are the foundation of learning from experience, and they work because they make use of your brain's natural inclination to match patterns.

Analogies influence what you perceive and remember, and help you process information more easily because you associate it with things you already know. These mental shortcuts are useful methods of processing new and unfamiliar information, and help people understand, organize, and comprehend incoming information.

One example of an analogy created by Feynman encapsulates the power of his technique. He was able to take a question regarding human existence and simplify it into a simple sentence that even a middle-schooler could understand. Feynman said:

"All things are made of atoms-little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another."

Here, Feynman is saying that if you don't know anything about physics, the most important concept to understand is that everything is composed of atoms. In one sentence, he communicates the fundamental existence of the universe. This is a genius ability-not only for scientists, but also for writers of any subject. Get to your point as succinctly as possible, and avoid confusing and verbose language.