Advice on how to become a better / safe diver

[TMHeimer]

Of course!
1. Mask Flood
2. Mask doff & don
3. Air share
4. Gear doff & don

I think that's pretty much it. At least that I can remember.

Could add reg recovery. But that makes 5 (out of PADI's-?-24). In my final year of assisting ('15) I did notice students getting more time just swimming around/hovering/being neutral. I think that showed good results. Not sure how much doing those 5 skills helped with overall good buoyancy in diving. Maybe a bit--certainly didn't hurt.
My guess is doing as much as possible neutrally buoyant would mostly benefit those who were not overly comfortable in water to begin with. I found as a newbie that it didn't take many dives to dial in buoyancy quite well. Not rocket science--there are subtleties like breath control, but it's basically working the inflator well.
A point may be that if you can doff & don the unit in the water column then just diving will be a breeze. I would agree with that. Guess my only point is that quite a few on SB like to say "We do all the skills neutral". There just aren't that many you can do neutral. The rest are what they are--removing & replacing belt on surface is what it is. A CESA is a CESA, etc.