the biggest thing is your chips stack if I have less then 10 for my m then I only go all in or fold if I am the large stack I play extremely patient. I use what I call chip goals for SnG's. My first goal is 3000 one double up and I can ussally always make the money. The goal is I look to only play 2-3
hands before the table gets down to 4 players. Once we get to four players I open up alot more when I am in position. Position is the key here. At this point I am usally just trying to at least maintain my 3000 stack. The reason I say 3000 is the golden number is because with 9 players their is 13500 in play if can get to 3000 I will have 22% of the chips in play and That gives me a good amount of leverage aginst the large and average stack. Once I get to 3 handed and have reached the money its time to flip the switch and start raising everytime in position. at this point i have nothing to lose and can only gain. one thing I do stress on is not calling all ins with marginal hands, you may be ahead pre flop but the bottom line is any two live cards can win so I try to see the flop more often before making raises. Now when I say raising everytime in position I am not always saying raise pre flop but post flop. If it gets checked to you always take a shot and fire out 1/2 the pot. Reason is you miss the flop more times then you hit it so if you are the one betting you will pick up more small pots then the rest of the table. I hope this will help you start to take the 1st place slot down. But i honestly believe the big key is the extreme tightness untill it reaches 4 handed and then the aggressiveness three handed.
