Learning how to use "t" was a game-changer for me. Before that, I used "f", which cost me a fair bit of time when deleting things since the extra character was deleted. (c/d)t<space> is a great sequence that I use a lot.

I suggest VimGolf as a way to learn new commands, especially how to use them efficiently. It was how I learned to use "w" and "b", as well as macros.