How to Study Way More Effectively | The Feynman Technique

This video is sponsored by brilliant.org, a math and science problem-solving website that helps you think more like a scientist. In a 2007 graduation speech, Charlie Munger told an interesting, but fictional, story about two people: the great scientist Max Planck, and his chauffeur. Max was, undoubtedly, a wise scientist. The people of Germany longed to hear him speak. He toured the country with his chauffeur, giving talks about his work.

Day after day, the chauffeur grew tired of hearing the same speech over and over again. Finally, he asked, "Max, can I try giving the speech this time? I've listened to it so many times I have it memorized." Max agreed to let the chauffeur give the speech. He took a seat at the front and put on the chauffeur's hat. The chauffeur pretended to be Max and played the part perfectly. The speech was a success. At the end, a small man rose and asked the chauffeur a question. His response? "That's such a simple question, I'm surprised that you would ask it. I'll let my chauffeur answer it."

Charlie Munger told the story to highlight the difference between two kinds of knowledge: the deep knowledge that Max had and the shallow knowledge that the chauffeur had. The world is overflowing with information. It's impossible to learn deeply about everything. In fact, there are benefits to having a shallow understanding of ideas. For starters, it allows us to connect with other people in their area of expertise and have conversations with a wide variety of people. It also allows us to understand important things on the surface, which may be better than not understanding at all.

In the essence of time, sometimes we have to outsource our understanding to experts, but in my opinion, it's always best not to act on information we haven't reviewed ourselves if possible, because even experts can be wrong or misinformed. There are dangers associated with attaining shallow information as well. The biggest is that, like the chauffeur, we risk fooling ourselves into thinking we actually understand or know something when we don't. Even worse, we risk taking action on misinformation or misunderstanding. As Richard Feynman famously said, "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool."

The best way to not be a fool is to think critically and learn deeply. One of the best ways to grasp a deeper understanding of an idea is to utilize the Feynman Technique. There are four simple steps. Step one: Explain the topic out loud to a peer who is unfamiliar with the topic. Meet them at their level of understanding and use the simplest language you can. Step two: Identify any gaps in your own understanding or points where you feel that you can't explain an idea simply. Step three: Go back to the source material and study up on your weak points until you can use simple language to explain it. And then, the final step is to repeat the three steps above until you've mastered the topic.

There are two main goals to strive for when using the Feynman Technique: be simple and concise. See if you can explain the concept to a five-year-old. If you can, try to come up with an original analogy to help you explain the topic. Creating an analogy is a fantastic way to gain mastery over an idea and learn empathy. It forces you to meet the person at their level of understanding and teach them something new by relating it to an idea they're already familiar with.

Here's an example of an analogy: the basic structure of a story can be thought of as a pyramid. Tension builds up to a maximum and then drops. Of course, there are many different ways to write a story and not all of them can be reduced to such a simple structure. But the image of a pyramid conveys a lot of complex information to the student in a simple manner. They can relate the structure of a story to a shape they're familiar with and have an intuitive understanding of the pyramid. It shows them that there must be tension in a good story; this is commonly referred to as the rising action. The tension must rise to a maximum point, which is called the climax. At this point, the tension must fall or be diffused. We refer to this as the falling action.

Creating an analogy like this forces me to have a deep enough understanding of the topic to relate it to an idea the student is already familiar with. "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." — E. F. Schumacher. So when should we apply the Feynman Technique to learn more deeply? I'd argue that the two most important places to apply it are when we're making a life-changing decision or when we're working on our craft.

If you want to be an artist, you should apply it whenever you're making art so that you can deliberately improve. If you're an engineer, you might apply it when you're studying or working on a technical project. The massive advantages of using the Feynman Technique are that it helps to develop a true understanding of whatever you're learning. It allows you to make informed and intelligent decisions. Applying your knowledge to real-world problems becomes much easier, your teaching skills improve, and your capacity to think critically about a topic is increased. The only trade-off is time and effort; even then, the time you invest upfront is more than returned later on.

This technique was named after Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. In his biography on Richard Feynman, James Gleick said that Richard would create a journal for the things he did not know. His discipline and challenging his own understanding made him a genius and a brilliant scientist. Now that you know his secret, I'm excited for you to step into your own greatness. Like the Feynman Technique, Brilliant.org also follows a simple yet effective structure that helps you guys learn and grow. Brilliant is a math and science problem-solving website, and it's relevant for any person who wants to get ahead in finance, programming, engineering, or someone who just wants to think more like a scientist.

My favorite course right now is Physics of the Everyday, which, like it sounds, shows us how the principles of physics are applied to things we experience in everyday life. Brilliant mirrors the structure of the Feynman Technique. You start by thinking through interesting puzzles in a guided sequence, which is one of the most effective ways to identify the gaps in your own understanding. When you get stuck, you can look up the solution to brush up on your weak points. It's really a fun way to learn and to better yourself, so I highly recommend checking it out. Just go to brilliant.org/freedominthought or click the link in the description below, and you can sign up for free.

As a bonus for those who want to get ahead, the first 200 people will be hooked up with 20% off the annual subscription. As always, thanks for watching, and I'll see you guys next time.