[FroshKiller]

In my experience, long-term efficiency comes from spending less time writing code and more time thinking about it thoroughly first. I slow myself down by writing notes and questions in longhand. Then, after I've done that and written the code, I spend a little more time focused on making my output maintainable and reusable.

That might not be the kind of answer you wanted or expected, but believe me, taking it slow and working for the future will net the most efficiency in the long term.