The Feynman method

Updated August 29, 2018

Richard Feynman was a polymath, who did pioneering work in the Manhatten Project, quantum physics, parallel computing, and nanotechnology. One would expect he knows a thing or two about learning. Lucky for us, he boiled his technique down into 4 steps.

The Feynman method of learning:

  1. Find a concept
  2. On a piece of paper, write an explanation of the concept using simple words — the way you would teach it to a first-grader.
  3. When you encounter a gap, or find yourself resorting to big words and tricky concepts, go back to the source material. Re-learn, until you can explain it in simple terms.
  4. Share it!

Also: learn to learn, be approximately right.