Hand Pacing – Pace Your Reading

Hand pacing: Increase and control your reading speed in 1 minute

Hand pacing is a speed reading technique to instantly increase speed and also improve comprehension. It is an easy to learn method and involves using your index finger or a pointer to move along or below the lines while reading.

This method is the quickest way to boost your performance, and it helps keep your focus or skim articles for an overview quickly. This tutorial explains how you can apply hand pacing successfully to your reading today.

Pacing – Intuitive Learning

Do you remember your early days in school? Have you ever spotted anyone reading while moving his/her finger along the line of the page? What did you think then? What would you think today? Is it a type of reading disability?

Certainly not. Some people simply have a natural tendency to concentrate and to do so they unconsciously use pacing techniques. By doing so, they comprehend material much better and remember it well.

Ron Cole, the author of “How to be a super reader”, for example, says that hand pacing is as simple as moving your index finger or a pointer under the words you are reading. You can do it at your own speed and pace yourself.

Pace Your Reading – The Benefits

Cole’s graduates consider hand pacing as one of the top three fast reading methods (skimming and scanning | chunking of words). Being one of his book graduates I can confirm: You can easily improve your skills by applying this method. It’s free and fast.

Pacing your reading will

• improve your comprehension
• increase your pace
• guide your eye during reading
• improve retention
• improve concentration and flow
• reduce regression
• teach your mind to concentrate without distractions
• save time and energy

Does it work?

It is a natural and human tendency to detect moving objects. Please consider this example: Imagine you are watching TV. There is a window right next to where you sit. Even though you are indulged in your favorite show, you would spot a bird or person passing that window. It’s a natural behavior, and even our ancestors, the early humans, were required to detect the movement of predators to survive. This inherent skill we can use to read more efficiently.

Whether you consider yourself a slow, fast, or passive reader, hand pacing or a moving pointer will help force your eyes to follow and process the words appearing in the focus area. Allow your eyes to move smoothly to train eye coordination and change existing habits of bad eye movement.

How to Learn Hand Pacing?

Hand pacing means using a pointer while you are reading. It is easy to learn (see the instructions below). However, advanced levels exist, and it may require some practice and experience to apprehend what you read at a higher pace.

Advanced variants such as vertical, serpentine, or zig-zag style can be perfectly used with previewing or chunking methods to refine your reading style. Thus, one key to success is to make pacing a routine and apply it to all your (non-fiction) material.

Start today. Pace yourself using any pointer and give it a week to get familiar with variations. Use it for books as well as on tablets. Do not be shy to use this method in the library, public transport or in a park.

1. Hand Pacing – Basic Instructions

• Sit in a 45 degree angle. Sit comfortable. Put your elbow on your table.
• Use one hand to hold your material.
• Use a pointer or your left/right index finger.
• Place pointer below the first word. Start pacing by moving along the lines.
• Your eyes concentrate on the pointer and the words.
• Keep moving the pointer while reading. Go to the next line once you are finished.
• Your index finger determines your speed and focus.
• Adjust speed according to your comprehension.
• Do not worry about missing a few words, just keep going.

Tips:

• Your motion is continuous and free flowing.
• Slow down to handle more complex information, material and data.
• Focus on your eyes and concentrate on the words coming into focus.
• Coax your brain to go faster and allow it to do the rest.
• Start again when realizing you stopped self pacing.

2. Hand Pacing – Advanced Variations

Card – Use a card instead of a pointer or finger. The card works for some by helping you focus more and keeping your eyes on the material.
Zig-Zag – Move your pointer or index finger diagonally about three lines down to the right. Then go down to the left. It’s like scanning a larger area. Note, you should be capable of identifying and comprehending whole word phrases before you can fully benefit from this method.
The Hop – Hop through the text/lines/sentences with four of your fingers and concentrate on 3-5 words at a time. Again, it is better to start using this style after mastering the default pointer method to keep good text apprehension.
The Sweep – Imagine that you are dusting sugar off your page, use a cupped hand while keeping your fingers together, and sweep from left to right

3. Hand Pacing – Your Assignment

• Choose your material. Any book or magazine will do.
• Start practicing, use hand pacing slowly for the first page.
• Apply it for at least seven days before going advanced.
• You can use the mouse pointer when reading online.
• Try to go as fast as you can to get the hang of it.
• Try it in public and resist the feeling of being watched. Concentrate and relax.

Hand Pacing – Summary

Hand pacing is an easy-to-learn method to control and adjust your reading pace. Young students apply it intuitively to identify words better but also to keep focus and concentration. However, readers also get told not to use it as it may look silly, naive, simple-minded, helpless, awkward or ridiculous. As a result, most adults have abandoned this technique.

Skim information – As discussed in this tutorial, we could not be more wrong when it comes to systematically extract information from non-fiction books. We can use hand pacing to skim and scan books quickly and use it to adjust speeds for passages containing easy-to-understand or very complex and technical information and data.

Variations – Those applying the method will probably see the biggest benefits when using advanced variations (card, zig-zag) to scan for specific information. This requires more experience as faster moves will challenge your comprehension rates as well. However, this is what professional learners do, and everyone can achieve it too.

Pacing digital content – I agree using a pointer or finger to pace yourself can be tricky on computer screens, tablets or phones. If you use a mouse you will have a good alternative. I apply the hopping and zig-zag method on tablets, and it works fairly well when there are few touch-sensitive elements. I also tried imaginative moves to control the pace, but only hopping allows me to keep focus and concentration. Try and experiment here to see what would work best for you.

I hope this tutorial on hand pacing will encourage you to try it out. Let me know if you use different variations in the comments below.