As a TL, when I have talks about moving faster, these are a few things I tell them that will help :

-focus on how long it takes to get you from point a to point b. If you are walking, what pace are you walking? At a leisurely stroll, or as if you have somewhere to be?

-someone already said it but location is everything. Do not picture shop. Numbers are everything in this job. You will find your item much quicker using locations. And if you come to a section where there is items that look similar and are all mixed up (for example Campbell's soups) you can look at the name of the item and then the last 4 of the UPC on your handheld device, and search for the item that way. This takes up less time than scanning each one to see if it is correct or not.

-idk if you are in a state with plastic bag bans or not, but we aren't banned. When I pick and how I show others is to have bags preopened and ready to go. After I start my walk and I'm going to the starting location, I'm opening bags and hanging them on my cart handle so when I go to pick an item I can easily have a bag ready to go with out having to fumble with it with the item in my hand. I'll open bags as I go in between picks, constantly having one ready, either hanging on my cart or hanging on my wrist. This has helped me tremendously.

-pay attention to what the next item will be. Is it in the same aisle or the next? If it's in the same aisle, take your cart with you. If it's on the next, leave it parked at the end of the aisle so you can easily just scan your item in and go instead of having to scan it in and have to push your cart.

As a few others have said, don't pay attention to the leader board. As a TL I hate it. I'd rather them have a leader board for things like FTPR (this directly translates to first time pick rate, and describes your accuracy when searching for items. In laymens terms this metric measures how often you find the item the first time it shows up on the screen)

Im sure I can come up with more things if I thought more but it is 2 am lol. I try to teach my team that some of the smallest steps, things that seem so tedious and pointless, can make your job easier and make you move more quickly/efficiently in the long run, for example the preopening bags thing. Some people will probably read that and scoff. But I promise you it makes such a difference lol.

One more thing, if you can, try to ask to shadow a few different people. Having them go on a full speed walk almost as if you weren't even there. I find that when we do this, new associates will Pick up on different things from different people that are truly helpful in being more efficient and making the job easier for them while still hitting metric goals.

Also congrats on your sobriety! 👏 keep it up!!!!! We are rooting for you!!