First Principles Thinking, Teaching and Education Lessons from Professor Richard Feynman
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First Principles Thinking, Teaching and Education Lessons from Professor Richard Feynman
Tim Ferriss | Richard Feynman: The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
• Do what interests you the most.
• Spend time with nature.
• Ask questions.
• Never stop learning.
• Don't pay attention to what others think of you.
• Read everyday.
• Study hard.
• Teach others what you know.
• Make mistakes and learn.
• It's Okay to not know things!
If you want to master something, teach it. The more you teach, the better you learn. Teaching is a powerful tool to learning.
When your "education" limits your imagination it's called indoctrination. Those who cannot think for themselves are truly lost.
Education should be a rewarding experience which allows you to think, imagine, question, doubt and solve problems. 🧠
You don't wanna work somehwere where you do not feel supported and validated, where you feel forced by a need to maintain your position in the organization, where you don't have time and space to truly rest.
No one wants to trade in hours of their life to "earn" necessities.
FEYNMAN Lessons for Excellence:
• Starve you distractions, feed your focus.
• Set Goals.
• Read every day.
• Time is non-refundable. Use it with intention.
• Have a vision.
• Live inspired.
• If you don't go after it, you won't have it.
• Make mistakes and pursue failure.
1. Read and write more.
2. Don't hesitate to admit when you're wrong.
3. Be comfortable changing your opinion.
4. Find a mentor.
5. Stay teachable.
6. Make mistakes and learn.
7. Don't get offended easily.
8. Ask questions.
9. Spend time with nature.
10. Stay humble.
Five Big Lessons For Life: 🧠
1. Failure is when you don't try.
2. Don't try to please everyone and don't care about what others think.
3. Opinions don't change the reality.
4. Learn daily.
5. Your are in charge of your own happiness.
The problem is not you being uneducated.
The problem is that you are educated just enough to believe what you have been taught, and not educated enough to question anything from what you have been taught. 🧠
Don't regret anything in life. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience!
When you win, you win. When you lose, you learn.
"Be a free thinker and don't accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in."
-- Aristotle (384 - 322 BC)
Teach your students
• to doubt,
• to think,
• to communicate,
• to question,
• to make mistakes,
• to learn from their mistakes, and most importantly
• have fun in their learning. 🧠
Be humble. Be teachable. The universe is bigger than your view of the universe. There's always room for a new idea. Humility is necessary for growth. 🧠
The ultimate purpose of education is to change an empty mind into an open one.
If you wanna be a good teacher, teach open-mindedness, teach enthusiasm, inquisitiveness, heuristics, and values.
Why is Failure important? 🧠
• Failure is an incredible learning experience.
• It teaches you humility and growth.
• It is the first step to understanding.
• It makes you realize the importance of success.
• It gives you a sense of direction.
• It gets rid of Fear.
Schools must not practice ideological indoctrination. They should promote creative thinking, innovation and problem solving.
The students should be made to think, doubt and question what they learn, and not memorize things under academic pressure.
When your "education" limits your imagination it's called indoctrination. Those who cannot think for themselves are truly lost.
Education should be a rewarding experience which allows you to think, imagine, question, doubt and solve problems.
Five great signs of intelligence:
• You're not afraid or ashamed to find errors in your understanding of things.
• You take mistakes as lessons.
• You don't get offended with accepting the facts.
• You are highly adaptable and very curious.
• You know what you don't know.
It's very important for you to realize that other people's thoughts, words, actions, behaviour, and feelings are NOT your responsibility.
What you think about yourself is more important than what people think about you. 🧠
Love yourself. But also analyze and be critical of how you think, act & behave. Self love without self awareness is useless. Be accountable.
Be humble. Be teachable. The universe is bigger than your view of the universe. There's always room for a new idea. Humility is necessary for growth. 🧠
Being wrong is not a bad thing like they teach you in school. It is an opportunity to learn something.
There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error.🧠
Don’t use your energy to worry!
Use your energy to believe, to create, to learn, to think, and to grow. 🧠
Don't just teach your children how to be successful, teach them how to respond when they are not successful, teach them how to handle failures and learn from their mistakes. 🧠
Don't regret anything in life. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience!
When you win, you win. When you lose, you learn.
People need to understand that:
• It's Okay to fail,
• It's Okay to make mistakes,
• It's Okay to admit that you are wrong.
• It's Okay to not have an opinion about something
• It's Okay to say "I don't know"
Five great signs of intelligence:
• You're not afraid or ashamed to find errors in your understanding of things.
• You take mistakes as lessons.
• You don't get offended with accepting the facts.
• You are highly adaptable and very curious.
• You know what you don't know.
You are under no obligation to remain the same person you were a year ago, a month ago, or even a day ago. You are here to create yourself, continuously.
Don't regret anything in life. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience!
When you win, you win. When you lose, you learn.
The Feynman Technique is a foundational mental model for unlocking growth in your career, startup, business, or writing.
A thread on how it works and how it can change your life...
