(If it’s a 2-way the traffic already owning that street of course has the right of way, but at a 4-way you only have to hit the stop a second before the owning traffic hits their stop).
Or if you have to enter it through a stop sign enter it at a 4-way stop instead of just a 2-way. If you’re paralleling a street you gotta get onto, stay parallel with it until its stop signs/streetlights are past (if your current parallel street doesn’t have as many). If you know your route well, taking pre-planned streets to approach the same particular light from a direction requiring a right turn through the light instead of entering the same street a block earlier which would force you through the intersection straight-through (the light will inevitably be red for you some of the time regardless which way you pass through, but when all you gotta do is stop-and-right-turn, that saves a little). Driving smart and efficiently is way faster than just plain driving fast.