Feynman Technique
Richard Feynman would famously challenge faculty members of any field to explain to him, in simple terms, what they were working on. So long as they didn’t convolute the material, Feynman argued he would always reach the same conclusions.
The Feynman technique is as follows:
- Explain one, and only one, concept you are trying to learn like you’re explaining it to someone for the first time.
- If you can’t simplify the language, make an analogy.
- Go back to reference material if you can’t quite explain it simply. Or don’t, if you’re trying to test yourself.