“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.”— Mortimer Adler
The famous Nobel winning physicist Richard Feynman understood the difference between knowing something and knowing the name of something and it’s one of the most important reasons for his success.
-He pioneered an entire field: quantum electrodynamics (QED).
-His work helping scientists understand the interaction of light and matter earned him a share of a Nobel Prize in 1965.
In fact, he created a formula for learning that ensured he understood something better than everyone else. It’s called the Feynman Technique and it will help you learn anything faster and with greater understanding. Best of all, it’s incredibly easy to implement.
1. Pick a topic you want to understand and start studying it. Write down everything you know about the topic on a notebook page, and add to that page every time you learn something new about it.
2. Pretend to teach your topic to a classroom. Make sure you're able to explain the topic in simple terms.
3. Go back to the books when you get stuck. The gaps in your knowledge should be obvious. Revisit problem areas until you can explain the topic fully.
4. Simplify and use analogies. Repeat the process while simplifying your language and connecting facts with analogies to help strengthen your understanding.
Source: "Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman." by James Gleick's ,1993
