Is there a way to make lucid dreaming more "?efficient?

Been doing reality checks + journaling for a few months now (posted here before about my first real lucid dream). Getting them more consistently now, maybe 1-2 a week, but I feel like I'm losing a lot of time within the dream itself. Like last night — I think I spent what felt like half the dream just testing whether I was actually dreaming (looking at my hands, checking text on signs, that kind of thing) before I actually trusted it and started doing anything interesting with it. Anyone have a way to get from "wait, am I dreaming?" to actually being lucid and in control faster? Feels like by the time I fully realize it, I'm already halfway to waking up. Also curious if anyone tracks stuff like this — like how long you're lucid for, what triggers worked, etc. Wondering if there's a pattern I'm missing.