What’s the point of writing my thoughts?
I’ve found that passively learning things is NOT an effective way of understanding something. It’s just not. If you want to learn something in depth, you need to be forced to think through it. While being spoon fed information means you may grasp ideas, it also quickly leads to it being forgotten.
I found that many people have had this similar thought. In fact, a popular solution to this is coined by physicist Richard Feynman, called the Feynman Technique.
The Feynman Technique
It’s a four step technique, which follows:
- Pick a Concept – Choose something you want to understand better.
- Teach It Simply – Try to explain it as if you were teaching a child. Avoid jargon and use plain language.
- Return to Source – If you get stuck or find yourself using complex terms, that’s a sign you don’t fully get it. Go back, review, and simplify further.
- Refine & Simplify – Keep improving your explanation until it’s super clear.
Why?
The MOST important step for me is step 2. It requires me to actually put my thoughts into words, which is way harder than just nodding along while reading or watching something. When I try to explain something simply, I immediately notice when I don’t fully get it. If I start using vague or complicated terms, that’s a red flag—I probably don’t understand it as well as I thought. That’s when I have to go back, break it down even more, and rewrite it in a way that makes sense.
At the end of the day, if I can’t put something into my own words, I probably never understood it in the first place.