Question about early and mid-level play in sngs

I'm probably writing this post because I'm still tilted from the last couple of days. I've been following Aleo's guide for awhile now, and honestly I'm starting to believe that this can't be optimal Sng play. So I did some searching here, and have learned that alot of the more successful players tend to be a little looser earlier tying to accumulate chips. I find myself folding AQ in early to middle position early in a game and it drives me nuts because I've never played that way, and it doesn't seem correct. I even dropped down to two tables, but waiting to only play top hands is driving me nuts. So the question I have is whether the winning players on here play hands like suited connectors in late position or AQo in early to mid position? Should I be raising w/ AJs or offsuit in late position? Or is it just optimal to blind down to 500-600 chips until level 4-5 and just start pushbotting? Any help would be appreciated.