The other day, I won a live tournament, and I think the biggest reason why (besides carefully aggressive hands and a little bit of luck on a fairly passive final table) was my ability to stay patient while card dead. The tournament was about 4 and a half hours long, and for about an hour I was solidly card dead (I think only seeing one flop, and on a bluff at that). The table was quiet, but I was able to get a little chatter out of the old lady on my left. However, this patience wasn't typical for me (and may have been because I was so tired).
My question is, how do I stay patient in the future while still paying attention to the game? I don't want to do anything to distract me from the action, but if I just sit there and watch the game I will eventually overplay the rags I'm dealt. Obviously this is going to be a big part of lasting in tournaments longer than 4 hour donkaments

You should enjoy folding.
Say to yourself I AM enjoying folding for however long it takes until i get into a spot that is profitable.

type it out and print it and put it on your wall. repeat it yourself until you believe it is true.

Do you want to overplay the rags your dealt? if so keep doing it.

If not

Write down 100 times I AM only playing rags that im dealt when they are profitable. study spots when they are profitable to play so you know when they are profitable to play. write those situations down 100 times until you know and believe. 100 times is 90 times too much imo but you should get my point.

I AM studying spots to know when rags are profitable. write that down too.

Geez, okay coach hardass.

Lol, but really, thanks. I'll give it a shot.

You got lucky. You really cannot afford to be patient in a donkament. If you are in the middle levels, you are lilely around 20 bb if you have an average stack, so not playing a hand for an hour will burn around 50% of your stack(depending on the structure, it could be more, it could be less). At some point you have to make a few moves before you bleed out. The turbos have a very high variance, and a grinding, tight strategy will get you to the top 20%, but you will have no chips when you get there, and will have difficulty cashing if the deck doesn't hit you at the right time.

To answer your underlying question, though, treat a long session or day as a series of sprints, with rest in between. Focus on the game for a few orbits, then relax and listen to music or a podcast or watch the TV for a few minutes, or take a brief walk. Basically, learn your signs of tilt or mental fatigue, and focus on the game until you are at the threshold of losing focus, and then take a break. It helps to do an internal narration of the game, it helps to focus on one or two specific players.

At some point, your image should be tight enough that it becomes EV to play worse starting hands, so open with ATC every now and again to avoid being seen as a total nit.

In addition, learn to recognize these signs in your opponents. people's play will change based on what has happened to them and that can present opportunities for you.

A common player error in low buy-in live tournaments is a tendency to limp-call (or call from the BB) pre flop, then play fit or fold OTF. You can raise these people pre with a weaker hand, then take the pot OTF when they miss.

Stay engaged in the hands. Try to figure out each Player's holdings as if you were in the hand. Watch for tells and patterns so you can take advantage of them when you are actually in a hand.

The negative of this is that you will see some horrendous plays 'work out' and you need to avoid getting caught up in that mental anguish. Or thinking that 'the deck' is hot for you and start playing rags since you are hitting 'every' Board.

I agree, know where you stand as far as average stack and structure. Last year's HPT and MSPT Player of the Year was an 'expert' at just making Day 2s with 15-20bb and somehow amassing a ton of final tables.

You don't have that much luxury in a 5 hour tournament, but in reality you 'only' need to double up every two levels to stay as an average stack in most structures. GL

And that's my fear about watching play, is I will get anxious. I generally do a really good job of watching stack sizes and adjusting my play.
On a tangentially related note, do you play MSPT? I am likely going to hit up Tropicana Evansville at the end of the month (I fully expect to do terribly, but I need to see where I am and what I can improve)

I mainly play Poto in Milwaukee and FKeepers in Michigan for the MSPT stops. I'm mainly cash just because it's hard to free up weekend hours .. GL

i’ll keep a separate stack for tracking pocket pairs. each hand i don’t get one i add a chip. maintains my chi for hours.

Well I will consider Milwaukee if I can cash in Evansville, but that of course isn't likely. Otherwise, Tama, Iowa, is home base, but I'll have to qualify in.