If you are clicking through menus in Photoshop to find basic tools, you are wasting hundreds of hours a year. Memorizing shortcuts is the difference between an amateur and a professional.

The Essentials

• V: Move Tool
• B: Brush Tool (Use [ and ] to change brush size instantly)
• Ctrl + J: Duplicate Layer
• Ctrl + T: Free Transform

The Advanced Tweaks

Hold Alt (Option on Mac) and drag a layer to duplicate it instantly. Press D to reset your foreground/background colors to default black and white, and X to swap them (perfect for masking).

Conclusion

Force yourself to use the keyboard. It will feel slow for the first two days, but it will save you weeks of time over your career.