---
title: Memorable explanations
date: 2026-02-21T13:58:58+08:00
categories:
  - simple-explanations
---

Our brains remember some things better. Explaining that way makes it stick.

Here are the eight things, most important first, that help you:

![](https://files.s-anand.net/images/2026-02-21-making-explanations-stick.avif)

**Structure explanations memorably**:

1. **Face.** _You_ remember faces before facts. So cast characters: "Imagine you're a courier carrying a packet." Prefer archetypes to real names — less baggage, more imagination.
2. **Place.** You're reading _down_ a list now — and the _top_ feels more important. That's spatial wiring. Turn any concept into a map. Use higher, deeper, nearer, inside, ...
3. **Tale.** You read #1 and #2 first _because_ they came first. Your brain built a cause from that sequence. Time creates cause for free. "Because" makes anything believable.
4. **Scale.** "Two feet tall" lands instantly. "60 cm" forces you to convert. Your brain doesn't measure — it _compares_. Give it reference objects, not just numbers.

**Deliver explanations memorably**:

5. **Touch.** Face. Place. Tale. Scale. Each is a thing you can "grasp" or "hold" in your head. We learn literally by grasping. Make abstractions touchable.
6. **Feel.** Everyone ignores you because you forget these eight. Did that sting? That's loss framing. Fear, surprise, and reward are memorable.
7. **Chunk.** There are 8 items here - already past our ~4 chunk working memory limit. We've chunked them into two logical sets of four.
8. **Beat.** Face, Place, Tale, Scale. Touch, Feel, Chunk, Beat. Two groups of four. Say them aloud — the rhythm is already doing the remembering for you.

---

<!-- https://claude.ai/chat/ebb9bdfc-6b1b-4448-a13b-8e824da6ef43 -->

PS: The [Claude conversation](https://claude.ai/share/ba3af627-d327-4867-8f6c-8309b0a7b509) that lead to this post is my favorite prompting example.

1. The first prompt asked the question "Our brains are wired to understand some things well..."
   - ... and for **multiple options** "Create a comprehensive list..."
   - ... **fact-checked** "... based on research evidence"
   - ... with **expert framing**: "But I'm a novice - what would an expert check that beginners would miss? Think about that, ask, and answer those too."
2. The second prompt uses **LLM review**. "I asked Gemini to review your work. What does proven science agree with and disagree with on Gemini's response?"
   - ... with **expert framing**: "focusing on patterns that an expert in this field recognize that beginners would miss"
3. The remaining prompts asksfor a **rewrite**: "Here's my shorter version. Rewrite it with the same succinctness", but with **meta-cognition**:
   - "but applying the same 8 principles of cognitive anchoring to this text itself!"
   - "rename them to rhyme better"
   - "Re-apply the principles and suggest an improved version.

I also converted this into a [SKILL.md](https://github.com/sanand0/scripts/blob/main/agents/memorable-explanations/SKILL.md)