Richard Feynman was a brilliant scientist and teacher. Not only did he win a Nobel prize in physics, he was able to explain complex scientific principles across many subjects.
Richard used the concept that you should ‘teach’ a subject to learn it. Whenever you learn something new, challenge yourself to put it into your own words, as if explaining it to someone else.
It gives you a chance to fully process a new idea and give words to it, which helps keep hold of new concepts with a deeper intuitive understanding.
You don’t have to teach someone face-to-face. You will get the same benefit if you write out a few paragraphs detailing your new knowledge. For some, the physical task of writing also reinforces new ideas.
- Take a piece of paper and explain your new concept in simple language (including examples)
- Think about which parts of the explanation were difficult, and refresh your learning on them.
- Look over the difficult parts again and see if you can explain them more clearly, and easily. Could you explain it to a child? And have an answer if they ask why?
When you practice this technique you will be able to speed up deep learning, allowing you to move on to new things more quickly, and more efficiently!
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