The Feynman Technique
Learn more effectively and efficiently with The Feynman Technique.
Learning frameworks are seriously some of my favorite things in the world! They can be extremely useful when setting out to learn something difficult. Learning frameworks continuously help you to improve on, and master subjects of interest. If you’ve never heard of Richard Phillips Feynman, he was a master of learning. This newsletter edition is an adaptation of The Feynman Technique.
Study What Interests You
Get out there and start learning something. Break it down into smaller pieces and dig deeper as you go.
It may take some time before you are competent enough in the subject in order to move on to the next step. But to be honest, it is not a requirement to be an expert in order to move on to the next step. The point is you have learned enough in order to be able to present the topic. You can always find ways to refine later and improve upon what you've learned. Learning is always a continuous process.
Explain, Teach, Present
I recommend trying to explain what you have learned to a friend or a family member but you can also create a Learning Journey on social media whether you are using Facebook or Instagram. You could also do this as a Blog or vlog. Or if you don't want it to be public you could film yourself trying to explain what you have learned in the simplest terms possible.
After you have explained, taught, or filmed what you've learned, you can move on to the next step.
Identify Gaps
If you're actually ended up teaching a group of people or an individual what you want to look for is holes in what you've tried to teach. Look for areas that the person can give you feedback in or that the person has more questions or clarifications for you. If you just filmed yourself, then you can look back on the video and assess yourself.
After you have assessed where your gaps may be, you can go back to the drawing board and study deeper to fill in those gaps.
You can dig deeper by looking into these three things:
Errors
What errors did you make when you taught the subject?
Clarification
What areas of the subject you taught need more clarification? How can you make things clearer to the listener or reader?
Questions
What question came up when teaching and might be able to help you to clarify the subject?
Simplify and Refine Further
Now, this is where you take all of what you've learned and try to make it as simple as possible. Try to make it as simple as explaining it to a 10-year-old.
One of the trickiest but most useful things for both the teacher and the learner is to make a complex subject easy to understand by everyone.
You can, at this point, study other aspects of the subject that will help you to dig deeper and understand finer elements of the subject.
Finally, repeat the process either with the same subject or something completely new. The refinement process is never-ending.
Do Me a Favor
If you got any value from this newsletter, pass it along to a friend.
I will do my best to provide more value to you every week or whenever something resonates with me I’ll share it with you.
In my entire career and in personal application, I've never learned more thoroughly than when I needed to be prepared to teach or present on the subject. And it didn't seem to matter what the subject matter was; I was always, always better off for presenting in it.