Information only becomes knowledge

Information only becomes knowledge when we put it to use and apply it to our lives.

Mind Map Journal

The meaning of the quote

In 1951, physicist Richard Feynman was teaching a class in Rio de Janeiro, in a building that looked out over the bay. His students were training to become physics teachers, and they could answer almost any question he asked straight away.

He asked them about Brewster’s Angle, the angle at which light bouncing off something like water becomes polarized. They knew the definition by heart and even the formula behind it. So he handed out strips of polaroid and told them to look at the bay through a strip and turn it. Nobody could tell him what they would see, even though the rule they had just recited described it.

Feynman told the story in the book Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! and summed up what had gone wrong in that classroom.

“Everything was entirely memorized, yet nothing had been translated into meaningful words.”

The students had all the information and none of the knowledge, because they had never once used it.

Information is what you collect, like the article you saved, the podcast you finished on the drive home or the notes from last month’s workshop. It turns into knowledge the first time you use it on something real. Someone can watch 30 videos on baking bread and still not know how sticky the dough should feel until the first batch glues itself to their fingers.

Using what you learn also shows you what you got wrong. Feynman’s students never found the holes in their understanding because nobody had asked them to look at the water. Leo Buscaglia made a similar point when he said true learning always ends in change.

Action steps

The next time you finish a book or a course, take it through these 3 steps before you start the next one.

1. Pick one idea.
   Leave the rest of the book for later and choose the one idea you could use this week.
2. Use it within 48 hours.
   Bake the bread or try a new budgeting rule on your next payday. Your first attempt will feel clumsy, and being brave enough to be bad at something new is part of how the idea sticks.
3. Explain it to someone.
   Tell a friend what you tried and what happened, in plain words. If all you can do is repeat the definition, go back and try it again until you can describe what you saw.

Feynman’s students had the answer sitting right outside the window.

All they had to do was look.

Resources

• Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Book)
• The Knowing-Doing Gap (Book)
• Feynman Technique: The Ultimate Guide to Learning Anything Faster (Article)
• Change is the end result of all true learning (Article)