Spend some time learning keyboard shortcuts and automation for common software

Most people who are used to Word still click the toolbar icons. In experiments that compared groups, shortcuts were faster than both menus and icons. Learning this once is a one-time cost, and every action after that, every day, pays it back. The longer you do the same kind of work, the more you get back.

Cost

No cost at all. You put in a few hours to a few dozen hours, once, to learn. The hard part is that when you first start, you are slower than with a mouse.

Benefit

The study looked at 251 experienced Word users. Most of them rarely used the faster shortcuts and still mainly clicked the icon toolbar. Experiments that compared groups confirmed that, of these 3 methods, menus, icons, and shortcuts, shortcuts were the fastest. The time saved accumulates a little with each action each day. People who do the same kind of work for a long time gain the most.

Notes

Learn only operations you use 10 or more times a day. Learning the whole set is another kind of waste. Also, that efficiency experiment had only 6 participants, and the summary did not give the seconds saved per operation.

Sources · 1

1. Lane, D. M., Napier, H. A., Peres, S. C., & Sándor, A. (2005). Hidden costs of graphical user interfaces: Failure to make the transition from menus and icon toolbars to keyboard shortcuts. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction. doi.org/10.1207/s15327590ijhc1802_1