Practice, practice, practice. This recently came up in a SecurityCatalyst forums thread from Cutaway. You practice until reactions to incidents is automatic. Not only that, but you practice to become better acclimated to something, whether that be a skill or simple knowledge. If you check your internet usage levels or network utilization every day, you get a really strong feel for what to expect. This means one can isolate anomalies much quicker. If you do some lockpicking for an hour every day, eventually you will acquire a feel for doing it quicker, which can expand into being able to tackle tougher locks…
Practice, practice, practice… Professonals need to never forget the basics and the fundamentals of what we do (I know too many who hate the drudgery of such tasks…). Think of it like keeping a finger or monitor on your heartbeat for spot-evaluations or for emergency hospital stays….