Tear Off Menus
This is a pretty basic tip, but can be a real time saver if you find yourself going back and forth to a particular menu. If a menu set has bars above it (circled below), then you can click on those bars to create a floating menu palette. This menu will stay open until you manually close it and it doesn't matter which mode you're in (modeling, animation, etc.)
AIM: mhcannonDMC
"If you love your job, you'll never work another day in your life."