Depending on how you use Photoshop, this idea may not be all that important, but for anyone who uses PS professionally or regularly, using "speed keys" will make your work-flow twice as fast. You'll be surprised. And beyond that it will give you the opportunity to stop focusing on all the little drop-down menus and focus more on the tool itself and the image at hand. It's an easy thing to do, and it helps you customize Photoshop to better suit the way you work.
The idea is simple. Assign F-keys to perform tasks that you do often. That's it. When I say tasks, I don't necessarily mean a long series of filters or anything like that, but more simple tasks like making a new adjustment layer, or making a 50% gray layer. All you have to do is make a new action and assign an F-key to it.
It's possible to customize the keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop as well, but the keyboard shortcuts are a little harder to organize and not quite as customizable as actions. I also find it easier to have a set of actions that I can change as my work-flow changes or carry around with me if I'm working on another computer. If you'd like to borrow the set I use, here's a link - help yourself. I recommend though that you make a set for yourself based on things you do on a regular basis, so that your speed keys build off of your own work-flow.
The one thing you will have to be sure to do though is turn off any keyboard shortcuts in your system preferences that might over-ride the F-keys assigned to your actions.
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