keyboard is your friend
I would suggest using the keyboard shortcuts as often as you can, as oppposed to clicking the mouse. Once you memorize where they are, you will save a lot of time. For example, using the buttons to toggle in and out of overwrite mode and insert mode, saves you a couple seconds from having to drag the mouse to the tiny little overwrite button. Those seconds really add up.
One specific key a fellow photog showed me once, that I use all the time, is "P" (on newscutter it's P, it may be different on other versions.) If you want to extend a piece of video in your timeline by a few frames, for example, you just have to mark an out point where you want that clip to end (make sure there is no in point marked and you have only the track you want to extend selected) and hit P. That one saves me a lot of time.
Also, using the keys that select and unselect video and audio tracks saves a lot of time in the long run, as opposed to clicking the track buttons.
Those are just a few of the shortcuts I use a lot. There are so many of them, but learning them and using them and eventually knowing them like you know the letters on a "qwerty" keyboard, will save a lot of time for you.
Hope that helps.
