i've seen 3kliksphilip and tophatwaffles' optimization video, but i'm still confused on how to apply them effectively. can someone just give me a simple gist on how to use em right
Optimization is not a simple concept. Those videos you watched are probably the best out there (especially TopHattWaffle's videos.) I would suggest maybe watching them some more and trying to absorb the content better, maybe try some examples yourself. If you're looking for a text-based explanation of optimization techniques, this guide, while old, is still pretty much the go-to documentation for optimization in the Source engine. Best of luck!