Here are some ways to increase your utilization of the most sacred of keys.
put this in your vimrc
" map leader to space
nnoremap <Space> <Nop>
let mapleader = " "
" now you can get to other commands easier
" like the classic "list buffers and fill in the prompt to switch buffers" is now Space b
" stop cycling when you can fly
nmap <leader>b :ls<CR>b<space>
" or map Space Space to write quickly
nmap <leader><leader> :w<CR>
" how many of your comands are now much easier to access?
put this in your tmux conf
# ctrl+space
unbind C-b
set -g prefix C-Space
# hit C-Space twice to send it through to another program
bind C-Space send-prefix
# you can cycle through pane layouts with C-Space Space like so:
# or, use it for some other oft-used tmux task!
bind Space next-layout