I nearly always use P with my finger on the wheel to shift the aperture/shutter combination and my thumb on the compensation wheel. I find it the quickest way to get what I want and by standardising it becomes second nature to get the exposure without fumbling
Occasionally I use A - particularly when doing lots of close-ups.
I never use M as I no longer have a decent separate meter - without which it means guessing or using the camera's meter - which is self defeating.