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

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

– Albert Einstein

Nothing crystalizes our understanding of an idea or topic like having to teach it to someone else! Consider:

• We take away about 5% of what we hear in a lecture.
• We remember about 10% of what we read.
• Activating additional senses increases retention by 10% for each sense (see, hear, touch, smell, taste).
• Interestingly, the average retention for demos is 30%.
• When we discuss concepts, retention increases to 50%. (E.g., book clubs.)
• When we put new ideas or skills into practice, retention jumps to 75%.
• And when we teach someone else, our own memory increases to 90%!

So, if you really want to learn something, teach it to someone else!