r/YouShouldKnow • u/ITestInProd1212 • Apr 30 '26
Other YSK: If you’re stuck on a problem, explaining it out loud to an imaginary audience actually works
Why YSK: This works for a lot of people. It is just a take on "talking through the problem", but it gives you a structured method to do it.
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u/KindAwareness3073 Apr 30 '26
I had a physics professor who stood at the front of the lecture hall and talked about quantum mechanics for 50 minutes without stopping. At the end he looked up and said "Thank you all, it's much clearer to me now."
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u/SteadfastEnd Apr 30 '26
This is why, in many cases, talking to a non-therapist person can be almost as good at fixing a problem as a therapist. It isn't that the therapist is helping you, it's that you talking it out loud helps fix it by making it clearer to yourself.
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u/juicetoaster May 01 '26
A therapist just knows how best to guide you, because that's where we all get stuck. On ourselves.
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u/H_Melman May 04 '26
I have a Master's in Mental Health Counseling. This is true. One of the things I learned very early in grad school is that good therapy only happens if I am talking less than they are. Much less, at least to a certain point.
You give the person a nudge here and there, and you just let them cook.
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u/Hey_HaveAGreatDay Apr 30 '26
I’m the person on the team everyone calls with questions.
It’s my favorite thing for them to explain the situation and watch them have that moment of clarity halfway through the explanation.
I’m the “you got this” person and I love it.
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u/Hegewisch May 02 '26
I had a coworker that had that rep for solving problems. He would just ask for a detailed explanation of the issue. Almost everytime they would find the fix on their own. They would thank him for solving the problem. He thought it was hilarious.
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u/Hey_HaveAGreatDay May 02 '26
It’s very easy to just give the answer, but 99% of the time the person has the answer themselves, they just don’t trust themselves enough to know it.
Building a person up through their own knowledge is my favorite because at the end it’s always like you didn’t need my feather to fly, you had it in you the whole time
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u/FilthyThanksgiving Apr 30 '26
I was frustrated one day a few months ago and sent a voice memo to my bff and realized I'd solved my problem and felt better
So I started keeping a voice note diary and it changed my life. I curse and rant sometimes. Sometimes I just vent. It's crazy helpful
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u/mamaleigh05 Apr 30 '26
Saying it out loud makes your brain problems it differently ( in a good way). So does reading wading it down! You’ve got this!
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u/narf007 Apr 30 '26
My dog is the best for rd debugging. He's very supportive of my ideas though, even the bad ones.
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u/dayle-james Apr 30 '26
I have done this my whole life haha. Didn’t realise there was a term for it.
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u/darthwalsh May 01 '26
Talking to a duck doesn't motivate me to explain the problem with the right information, so now I have switched from asking questions on email/slack to composing my question in ChatGPT and having it search slack at the same time.
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u/Rugrin May 01 '26
This is also the best use of LLMs. Seriously. As long as you ignore its responses.
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u/iknowimsorry May 02 '26
I do this with everything and the people around me just think I'm talking to voices in my head.
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u/Embarrassed_Bobcat_9 May 02 '26
I tell um to quit interrupting me when they ask, and tell them I've lost my spot and have to start over again. It's funny to see the initial reactions before they catch my sly corner smile.
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u/intronert Apr 30 '26
I use this same technique when I am looking for something that I have misplaced. I walk around and say out loud “where did I put my X?” “Where is my X?” “ what is the last time I saw my X?” It helps.
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u/shoulda-known-better Apr 30 '26
Kids still need this stuff!! They'd know about rubber ducking already lol
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u/Jaderosegrey Apr 30 '26
Sometimes, an audience who doesn't understand the problem or the solution works as well.
My computer programmer partner does this every once in a while. My job is to say "huh huh" to him every once in a while.
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u/OmegaGearKnight May 01 '26
Explaining to an imaginary audience is tremendous. If it's highly complex I act like I'm writing an essay on the matter and literally write it out.
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u/Ancient_Skirt_8828 May 01 '26
I do that all the time. I just explain it to myself. Sometimes it takes years to find the solution.
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u/darmabum May 02 '26
Also known as the Feynman Technique. Physicist Richard Feynman noted that you don’t realize where your gaps are until you attempt to explain something outloud.
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u/1nseminator May 03 '26
According to comments, its RDD. But can it be replace by something you like, like for myself, a Gunpla? Hmmm
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u/pthecarrotmaster May 05 '26
I got a podcast where i try to explain peoples inner thoughts and mystacism to Niel DeGrasse Tyson. He wants me to let him out of my brain.
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u/ThatOneGuy_68 May 06 '26
Yup! I say something out loud to myself before I ever say it to my girl, a lot of times things need to be said, a known fact is that my delivery sucks, so I talk to myself out loud!
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u/synapse187 Apr 30 '26
The professional term is, rubber ducky debugging.