How do I keep up when safety procedures feel endless?

When the safety procedures feel endless and you are always a step behind, it is easy to think you are just not fast enough for this. But being behind at the start is not a lack of ability, it is a lack of automaticity. Everything is still a conscious effort, and conscious effort is slow. That changes as the routine parts sink into your hands. Right now you are behind because you are processing every item fresh, in order, one at a time. Experienced people are not rushing through more, they have turned the repeatable parts into habit, so their attention is free to stay ahead instead of scrambling to catch up. The goal is not to do the checklists faster. It is to make enough of them automatic that you have room to think. So build that automaticity on purpose, off the clock. Drill the routine flows and checklists until you can run them without hunting for the next step, the way you would tie your shoes. Start with the ones that come up most. As each becomes second nature, you will find yourself a step ahead instead of a step behind, not because you sped up, but because you freed up the room to see what is coming.