I have always found that people who are most likely to excel in a subject have a tendency to be the most efficient in their work. This is because they are usually the most motivated to learn, and that motivates them to do the best work. When you are efficient, you are able to work harder, and your work is more likely to be successful.
With this in mind, I think there are a number of efficient ways of learning. I would say that speed is one of the most efficient ways, but I would also add the other two (which all stem from the same brain state): the ability to repeat what you’ve learned and the ability to learn something new. The ability to repeat is something that is pretty important, because the way we learn is by repetition.
With the ability to work harder and faster, you are also able to work smarter and faster, and you can go from one thing to another faster and faster. For example, in a manufacturing situation, you may find that what you are using to work on your machine isnt quite the same as what you are using to work on your resume.
The ability to learn something new is a little more complex. In the field of education, we are all taught in many different ways. Some of them are pretty clear, like the alphabet which is used to teach you how to read. Other methods of teaching are more subtle and complex. And as a result, it becomes difficult to learn new things. We all think we can learn something new, but in reality, learning new things is a process of trial and error.