Play much more agressively, loosen up your starting hands requirements a bit, play position - thats the technical part.

On the mental part it is tougher. Think about it that the payout for 1st place is 2.5 the payout to 3rd. So try not to think about 'getting in money' but try to think of getting first place, and first place only. In this state of mind you will have no choice but to play more agressively.

Remember that as the number of players decrease you need less of a hand to win.

One more important thing is where you play. I play at pokerstars where the blind structure is such that the blinds are pretty low relative to stack size compared to most other sites. Shop around the sites and pick one in which you get a lot of starting chips and the blinds advance relatively slow, this will give more time to play tight before the blinds eat you alive.