Online lots of my actions are automated and pretty instant, exploiting (general population tendencies). My live game has suffered from it and I'm struggling to adjust. I'm making a lot of "automated" decisions, some of which have cost me. The speed of the live game is much slower. How do you guys mentally deal with having to take your foot off the peddle and deal with a slower game.

whats the best way to avoid autopilot mode? Maybe shorter 4-5 hour sessions?

Shorter sessions help. Make sure that you're paying attention to the action and exploiting specific player tendencies vs that of the general room. Theres some decisions that should still be basically automatic but pokers a thinking game so you should play it that way. You'll see a lot of posts about not taking forever on every decision, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take a second or two if theres a decision to be made.

When i first started i used to play with my chips a lot. I started keeping my hands under the table most of the time as that extra second was generally enough to make me realize, if i was important enough to touch my chips, its important enough to not snap call

Between keeping track of the action, pot size, player stacks, charting villain tendencies without a HUD, and lookign for tells, there's plenty to do in the extra time.

I find that live play is less about exploiting population tendencies, and more about adjusting to individual opponents.