You're Not Prepping Your Ingredients
It is an expert level move to prep all of your ingredients before you even start cooking. While this completely depends based on what recipe you're making, it's always best to focus on your "mise en place," which is what the real chefs do.
You Need to Spin Your Salad
A wet salad is a sad salad. That's a fact. It's great that you figured out that you're supposed to wash your greens before you eat them. It's even more important to recognize that they must be dried as well. Water does not impart flavor, and you should know that by now.