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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Not exactly. If you are trying to memorize something, this is not the technique to use. The Feynman Technique is more about giving yourself that "Aha!" moment when you finally put all the pieces together to understand something. Using flashcards or mnemonics are more effective strategies for memorization.

This is also not a good technique to use on concepts that you already find to be simple or easy to understand.

Now that you know what the Feynman Technique is, let's look at how to apply it. While this technique is most commonly used to help people understand difficult math concepts, it can really be used with any complex concept.

​ This is especially helpful when you are trying to understand challenging concepts or complex interactions, such as when math and physics are combined.

Knowing where you have gaps in knowledge is the point where true learning occurs. What doesn't make sense, or what piece of the puzzle is missing? Highlighting your gaps in knowledge will help you organize your notes into a cohesive narrative.

Using one of the many Feynman Technique examples, you can create an analogy to understand the concept of torque. Torque is a force that rotates an object. To create an analogy to help you understand the concept of torque, you can think about drilling a nail into wood. The common phrase, "Righty tighty, lefty loosey" is a great analogy to help you recall this concept.

For example, let's say you are using some Feynman tricks to explain how to write a story. You may make it simple by reducing the concept of a story to the simple structure of a pyramid. The image of a pyramid can communicate complex information to a student in a simple way because they can relate a story's structure to a shape they are familiar with. This shape gives students an intuitive understanding of the tension that builds in a good story and eventually reaches a climax before becoming resolved or diffused in some way. Being able to come up with an analogy like this forces you to understand a concept well enough to relate it to an idea you're already familiar with.

If possible, try to come up with your own analogy to help understand and explain the topic at hand. Using analogies when teaching forces you to meet your listeners where they are in terms of their level of understanding, and relate something they already know to the new concept you are teaching.