In a microbiological lab a burner is absolutely necessary. Whenever you have to work sterily you have to work nearby this burner. This includes also pouring agar plates. First you start the burner, then you open the bottle with the autoclaved agar medium, then you go with the bottleneck through the flame, then pour the agar. In between you can always repeat this to keep the bottleneck sterile.
Clean you pipettes and your bench regularly with 70 % ethanol. This is especially helpful when you do PCRs.
If you want to increase efficiency, make a plan of what you have to do. Think about how long your experiments take. Consider what has to be done first, what can you do later...