A lesson delivered too quickly can make the listener mistake pace for personal inadequacy.

Speed in teaching gets read as a verdict. When an explanation moves faster than somebody can follow, they rarely conclude the pace was wrong; they conclude they are slow, and they stop asking, which makes everything afterwards worse. The teacher’s fluency is the problem, though the learner is the one who feels it. Many people who believe they are bad at something were simply taught quickly.

If you are explaining, pause and let silence do some work instead of filling it. Ask what to go back over. If you are the one lost, say so plainly.