11. The Best Way to Really Understand Something is to Teach it…
I’ll be really honest here for a second: I have a huge, unfair advantage over many people.
Why is that?
Well, the reason is this: I’ve been a high school teacher for 15 years. I know the power there is in teaching something to someone else.
There are probably two main camps to explain why it’s a big positive step teaching others.
Here’s the first and most obvious explanation: teaching others means you are forced to understand what you have learned at a much deeper level. Reason: you’ll be asked lots of awkward questions, and if you don’t know the answers, you’ll feel very uncomfortable.
But there’s also a second, more subtle explanation, which works at a deeper, more personal level: when you teach something to someone else, you gain two postive feedback loops if they really understand.
The first ‘loop’ is: you feel good. Giving something to someone else which helps them is a fundamental for any community or relationship. You feel good because you are valued (unless of course, the other person doesn’t show appreciation, which can happen. More often than not though, they do show appreciation, and lots of it, if you’ve explained well).
What about the second positive feedback ‘loop’? This is where it gets really fun! The second loop is this: your own understanding gains a new, deeper, more lasting level of comprehension. It’s as if your brain sets up its own self-mastery class inside that bit of your memory.
Another way to look at it, which is my favourite picture of how the brain works, is this:
Imagine you like hill walking. You discover a hitherto unknown pathway around a difficult climb, and you share it with other walkers nearby. So they start using this pathway, and before long, the ground underneath your feet becomes firm, and clear, as people tread down the loose soil and gravel, compacting it into what now becomes the obvious route to take for all.
So, if you want to gain mastery in a particular area, follow this simple three-step process:
- Learn the skills you need to learn
- Teach it to others
- Get them to give you feedback
You can iterate around these three steps more and more, as you train your mind in this way.
If you have any feedback to give, please do, as it might help you as well as other readers 
Dez.
