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The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything (2012)

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Re: The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything (2012)

#4
post #3

I thought the Feynman technique was: 1) Write down the problem 2) Think real hard 3) Write down the solution In other words, the "draw the rest of the fucking owl" of general learning/problem solving.

Lots of people (e.g. [0], [1], [2]) have blogged the Feynman technique, which seems to have been first documented in Gleick’s biography [3]. The various descriptions identify the following four steps:

* write down the name of a concept

* write down an explanation of the concept in plain English, identifying the bits you don’t know

* review the explanation, going back to source material if there is something that you haven’t yet explained, and repeat step 2

* simplify the language and rewrite bits where you have paraphrased the source material

[0] https://collegeinfogeek.com/feynman-technique/

[1] https://mattyford.com/blog/2014/1/23/the-feynman-technique-m...

[2] https://mystudentvoices.com/feynman-technique-learn-and-reta...

[3] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679747044

Re: The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything (2012)

#5
post #3

I thought the Feynman technique was: 1) Write down the problem 2) Think real hard 3) Write down the solution In other words, the "draw the rest of the fucking owl" of general learning/problem solving.

No, it's

  1) Write down the problem
  2) Frame it in such a way as to pique Feynman's curiosity
  3) Wait for Feynman to tell you how he solved it

Re: The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything (2012)

#6
That's usually how you can identify good people: when they can explain complicated things using simple words, in a way that their audience can understand it. People that need lots of expensive words and leave you feeling dizzy at the end of their presentation often don't know very well what they are talking about either.

Re: The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything (2012)

#7
"If you’re not learning you’re standing still"

This is a large understatement. In our industry, if you're not learning you are drifting backwards rapidly.

I aim for twenty hours a week of (unpaid) reinvestment and learning. Some weeks I still feel like that's not enough to stay current.

Does anyone else feel the same way?

Re: The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything (2012)

#8
There is a youtuber junior md called Ali Abdaal. He has very good scientific videos about learning. Talks about subjects such as “active recall” and “spaced repetition”. Worth a look imho.

Here is the youtube channel link: https://m.youtube.com/user/Sepharoth64

Video on a.recall and s.repetition: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLnPbIffxE

Re: The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything (2012)

#10
post #7

"If you’re not learning you’re standing still" This is a large understatement. In our industry, if you're not learning you are drifting backwards rapidly. I aim for twenty hours a week of (unpaid) reinvestment and learning. Some weeks I still feel like that's not enough to stay current. Does anyone else feel the same way?

It depends on how you measure that ROI, so to speak. In the web development industry, yes probably you could spend even more h/w on learning but would that benefit you in any way?

If you have just graduated yes you probably need to catch up especially if you are after a highly paid job, but for the more experienced one, no you don't have to be that anxious about it.

At some point I found my self spending more time on readying newsletters that were landing on my mail daily or weekly. Besides knowing what was that weeks' famous frontend library, it was adding zero to my foundational knowledge. I did felt that way. I just learned to let it go.

Now I am gradually trying to find my pace. The state were I can be aware of what's happening in the industry but also spend enough time on things that matter.

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