Step 1 Toward Not Being A Tournament Donkey

Tighten up in early position during the early stages of the tournament.

You should only be raising AQ+ and pocket pairs from early position. I see so many players raising or limping things like 89s, JT0, KJs ... don't. You're not good enough to play these hands out of position and they simply don't have a lot of value in these spots. Re-read that last sentence until it sticks.

If you limp them, you'll often be faced with a raise behind you and now you're stuck playing a drawing hand out of position which defeats the purpose of playing a drawing hand to begin with. If you raise with them, you'll either be flatted and not know where you stand or you'll be 3-bet by better hands.

When say 'the early stages of the tournament' I usually mean all levels before antes come into play.

Anyone who reads this and follows it is guaranteed to bleed fewer chips during the early levels.