Learn It Well Enough to Explain It Simply

You don't really know something
until you can make it simple.

It's easy to fool yourself.
You read it, you nod,
it sounds right,
and you file it away as learned.

Then someone asks you to explain it,
and the words fall apart in your hands.

That gap —
between recognizing and explaining —
is where most learning quietly fails.

So use it on purpose.

After you learn something,
try to explain it plainly.
To a friend. To a rubber duck.
To an imaginary beginner
who won't let you hide
behind big words.

If you can only repeat the jargon,
you memorized it.
If you can make it simple,
you understand it.

Simple isn't the easy version.
Simple is the proof.

Learn things well enough
to say them plainly.
That's when they're finally yours.

– Asael Shinder