How to Learn Anything Faster with the Feynman Technique

Have you ever struggled to master a new skill or concept and wished there was a magical tool to speed up the process?

The Feynman Technique might be one of the most effective tools to learn something new. This simple yet powerful method helps you break down even the most complex ideas into their simplest forms, making learning faster and more efficient.

At its core, the Feynman Technique is all about active learning and simplifying information. By explaining a concept as if you're teaching it to someone else, you can quickly identify gaps in your understanding. This process encourages more profound engagement with the material, making it easier for your brain to retain critical information.

What Is the Feynman Technique?

Have you ever had a teacher or coworker who spoke only technical terms or would explain things with language that was challenging to understand? You probably couldn't learn much from that person because you could hardly follow their words.

When people talk about the Feynman Technique of problem-solving, they often quote Albert Einstein’s famous words: 

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

This means that if you can explain a complex concept in simple terms, you have a good understanding of the concept at hand.

Doing this will also help you recognize your problem areas or areas of confusion because this will be where you either get stuck when explaining the concept or where you have to resort to using complex terminology.

The Feynman Technique is the perfect strategy for learning something new, deepening your understanding of a concept, enhancing recall of specific ideas, or reviewing for tests.

This mental model was named after the Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, who was recognized as someone who could clearly explain complex topics in a way that everybody—even those without science degrees—could understand.

He was able to take the mystery out of complex scientific principles. Feynman was also named “The Smartest Man in the World” by Omni magazine in 1979.

While studying at Princeton, Feynman began recording and connecting the information he knew with the things he either didn't know or didn't understand. Ultimately, he had a complete notebook of topics and subjects that he had disassembled, translated, reassembled, and written down in simple terms.

Although a physicist used the technique, that doesn’t mean that others can't utilize the Feynman Technique as an effective tool for learning faster. Anyone can use this technique to:

This learning strategy is effective for quickly learning technical and non-technical concepts and is summarized in four succinct steps.

What Are the Benefits of the Feynman Technique?

There are several benefits to using this learning technique.

First, it helps you completely understand what you're learning. Once you fully understand the information, you are better equipped to make informed and intelligent decisions.

Taking this one step further, you can use the Feynman Technique if you are struggling with a challenging subject matter, which is one of the most significant obstacles to learning.

Using the Feynman Technique allows you to apply the concepts you learn to real-world problems because you can grasp the concepts and processes of complex ideas.

It also helps to improve your teaching skills, as you use this technique to teach yourself the fundamentals of a subject (which was what these famous autodidacts did). This also increases your capacity to use critical thinking skills about a topic.

Feynman’s Technique is especially beneficial for people who find writing challenging. Feynman did not prefer to write his knowledge down on paper as many scientists do.

Instead, he used verbal communication as the foundation for most of his published works. He preferred to dictate his books and memoirs, and the scientific papers credited to him were transcribed from his lectures.

Feynman relied heavily on verbal communication, such as using cartoonish diagrams to explain highly scientific principles.

Feynman could easily tap into complex ideas using shapes, lines, and drawings. This method helped him strip away the confusing language and permitted the power of storytelling to take precedence.

The 4 Steps of the Feynman Technique

Here are the four core steps in the Feynman Technique to accomplish your learning goals.

1. Pick a topic or concept that you want to learn.

Choose the idea or concept you want to learn about, understand deeper, or quickly recall during examinations.

Write the concept as a heading on a blank paper or a notebook page.

After choosing the concept, write down everything you already know about the subject in your paper. Think of every tiny piece of information you can recall about the topic or have learned. Keep this sheet handy to continue to write down what you learn.

2. Teach it to a new student.

Imagine that you are tasked with teaching the concept to a new student.

Explain the concept using your own words, pretending you are teaching it to someone else. Make sure you use plain, simple language without limiting your teaching to simply stating a definition.

Put yourself up to the challenge of explaining an example or two of the subject to ensure you can apply the concept to real life.

3. Review and fill in the gaps.

Don't worry if you get stuck when practicing step #2. You are just starting to learn, so it won't all come to you immediately.

Review the explanation you came up with, and pinpoint the areas where you were unclear or felt your explanation was shaky.

Then, return to your source material and notes to better understand. Practice step #2 again with your new, revised notes.

4. Simplify.

Ensure you can explain this to someone who knows nothing about the subject. 

​To do this, you will want to use simple terms when you write the ideas or concepts in your own words. While complex, subject-specific jargon sounds cool, it confuses people and urges them to stop paying attention.

Replace technical terms with simpler words, and think of how to explain your lesson to a child.

Children are not able to understand jargon or dense vocabulary. Because science is filled with complex terms, Feynman’s diagrams became valuable to people who were struggling to teach and to people who were struggling to understand. His charts could simply explain things that other scientists took hours to lecture students on in an attempt to teach them.

If a concept is highly technical or complicated, analogies are a good way to simplify it. Analogies are the foundation of learning from experience, and they work because they use your brain's natural inclination to match patterns.

Analogies influence what you perceive and remember and help you process information more quickly by associating it with things you already know. These mental shortcuts are useful methods of processing new and unfamiliar information and help people understand, organize, and comprehend incoming information.

One example of an analogy Feynman created encapsulates his technique's power. He could simplify a question regarding human existence into a simple sentence that even a middle schooler could understand. Feynman said:

“All things are made of atoms—little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another.”

Here, Feynman says that if you don't know anything about physics, the most essential concept to understand is that everything is composed of atoms.

In one sentence, he communicates the fundamental existence of the universe. This is a genius ability—not only for scientists but also for writers of any subject. Be succinct as succinctly as possible, and avoid confusing and verbose language.

Does the Feynman Technique Work for Everything?

Not exactly. If you are trying to memorize something, this is not the technique you want.

The Feynman Technique is more about giving yourself that “Aha!” moment when you finally combine all the pieces to understand something. Using flashcards or mnemonics is a more effective strategy for memorization.

This is also not a good technique to use on concepts you already find simple or easy to understand.

How to Apply the Feynman Technique to Your Study Habits

Now that you know the Feynman Technique, let's look at how to apply it. While this technique is most commonly used to help people understand difficult math concepts, it can be used with any complex concept.

1. Identify lessons you don't fully understand.

You can use the technique to go over your notes and identify the specific parts of a lesson that are vague to you. 

​This is especially helpful when trying to understand challenging concepts or complex interactions, such as when combined math and physics.

Knowing where you have gaps in knowledge is where true learning occurs. What doesn't make sense, or what puzzle piece is missing? Highlighting your gaps in knowledge will help you organize your notes into a cohesive narrative.

2. Create simple analogies to enhance your recall of concepts.

Using one of the many Feynman Technique examples, you can create an analogy to understand the concept of torque. Torque is a force that rotates an object.

You can think about drilling a nail into wood to create an analogy to help you understand the concept of torque. The common phrase, “Righty tighty, lefty loosey” is a great analogy to help you recall this concept.

Develop your analogy to help you understand and explain the topic if possible. Using analogies when teaching forces you to meet your listeners where they are in terms of their understanding and relate something they already know to the new concept you teach.

For example, let's say you are using some Feynman tricks to explain how to write a story. You may make it simple by reducing the concept of a story to the simple structure of a pyramid.

The pyramid image can communicate complex information to a student simply because they can relate a story's structure to a familiar shape.

This shape gives students an intuitive understanding of the tension that builds in a good story and eventually reaches a climax before becoming resolved or diffused in some way. Being able to come up with an analogy like this forces you to understand a concept well enough to relate it to an idea you're already familiar with.

3. Use it in a small group setting.

Using the Feynman Technique without looking up your source materials is a good way to test your comprehension of a topic and is ideal for self-testing before an exam.

A great way to practice this is to get into a small study group and take turns teaching each other the material on your exam. If everyone in the group gets stuck on an idea, work together to simplify it until it is clear.

Explaining these concepts to your classmates or friends will stimulate your senses and provoke emotional responses that help you retain the information.

Group studying is not always practical, but using the Feynman Technique in a small group setting can benefit everyone involved. However, you must never forget to find the best study environment for you.

To self-test, review all the information you are trying to learn without referencing your notes. See how far you can get in explaining the concepts without getting stumped.

The Feynman Technique forces you to completely understand a concept because otherwise, you can't explain it to a child. In this way, the information is ingrained in your memory.

To quote John Medina, a leading expert on cognitive studies and the founding director of two brain research institutes, “The more a learner focuses on the meaning of the information being presented, the more elaborately he or she will process the information. This principle is so obvious that it is easy to miss.”

Final Thoughts on the Feynman Technique

The Feynman Technique provides clarity and confidence, whether learning a language, tackling a tricky subject, or mastering a new hobby.

With this approach, not only do you learn faster, but you also develop a profound understanding of topics that previously seemed overwhelming. It’s time to unlock your potential and transform the way you learn!

If you are interested in learning more effective study habits, be sure to check out these blog posts:

• 7 Strategies to Learn Anything Fast Today
• 101 New Skills to Learn Something New
• 21 Best Tools To Learn Something New Every Day
• 27 Free Study Plan Templates to Edit, Download, and Print
• The Ultimate Guide to Creating the Perfect Study Schedule
• 13 Effective Study Habit Examples: Improve Your Study Routine

Finally, if you want to take your goal-setting efforts to the next level, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals.