I've had that problem too and I've identified it as a type of tilt.

The first step is to realize that you're doing it in game. I know SNE takes a TON of volume to stay on pace but you have to ask yourself if it will really be worth the detriment to your game in the long run.

I think you had it right the first time - reduce the # of tables you're playing. But you can't just keep playing your normal auto-pilot game once you do this. You said it yourself. It's a habit. So you will need to consciously make an effort to use that extra spare time between decisions to soak in the extra information:

- Table position
- Previous action(s)
- Players left to act
- Stack sizes and stats of all the players at the table
- Consider ranges at each point in the hand
- Make the best decision and use the best bet size by the river
- Notes on any villains
- Any timing tells, etc.

What I've found really helped me in the past is to record a video of myself playing and then re-watch it and self commentate on it. You don't have to show us if you don't want to :P And it will definitely take time out of your SNE ritual. 

Once you get your mental decision making process back in order (hopefully doesn't take too many sessions of this) then you can start looking to improve your process or setup to help automate some decisions:

- Hotkeys for all the common actions you take. Pre-flop should basically be completely automated except for maybe 4-bet sizing. Post-flop bet sizes should be easily set.
- Have a colour coding system for your HUD and/or player notes to quickly identify type of player
- If you take notes, use short form that you can understand easily
- Make sure your actual hardware setup is optimized ergonomically

With an optimized system process then you can spend more time on considering the information available and actually making a decision, rather than fiddling with buttons, sliders, numpads, etc.

Maybe a long winded post but hopefully you can figure it out. We're just over half done 2014 so hopefully you can stay on pace for the remainder of the year. SNE is something I've been heavily considering for 2015 and what your OP is about is something I'm worried about as well. 

Good luck!

taking some time off would probably help.  but if u are going for SNE that might not be an option.  ime autopilot tendencies are usually a byproduct of burnout, assuming you know what you should be doing in-game and aren't doing it

i've found i perform best when my though processes in-game stem from actually being excited to explore and play, not from a need to avoid autopilot.  there is a subtle difference in the two approaches that makes a big difference imo.  one has a self-sustaining effect on your own enthusiasm/creativity, the other one has a heavy/resistant/draining effect. 

+1 to what Nick said, like 99% of humans just won't be able to handle the mental heat that doing things like SNE takes. I know this isn't what OP wants to hear but you should take poker a bit easier, maintain your excitement for the game at least to some extent while still making decent money. If you go for the burnout route it won't last too long, your game will probably suffer significantly and you don't want to hear anything poker related in a few years probably. just focus a bit more on life and less on poker (in SNE case poker = $), it is well worth it 

Getting to SNE, making a decent chunk of money, then puking poker and stopping after 3 years of play :p. Classical burnout story :).

For me your two goals are contradicting each other (for now at least): you can't break the habit of playing too quickly (with likely some ingrained mistakes) without giving up the expecation of making SNE.

Trying to get to SNE can easily break you. If your game is not strong enough at core (which seems to be the case), then you'll have a lot of variance and tough times (lacking confidence in your decisions) trying to make the volume needed. In order to prevent that, only way is indeed to love the game, be willing to learn (which is different from wanting some money / making enough volume for the money to come our way). You'll have to cut down your number of tables: try playing 2. Not zoom, normal tables. Without HUD maybe. Or try to play live. Very low pace. Learn how to enjoy it, see all you can observe and use to your advantage. Then when you play 4 tables +, your roots are solid enough for you to play well, without thinking too much about it.

Playing few tables at some point is the only way to be good at hand reading IMO. It needs to be done at some point, and maybe at a frequent basis.

Jared Tendler has some great stuff to help in his books regarding stuff like this. As Nick said this is normally a deep rooted problem that is largely due to your desire to actually play poker, remember when you started playing, would this stuff ever happen? I would say no, as you had so much passion and hunger that you would absorb every single piece of information that you could.

I would try to step back and work out what is really best for you.

All the best.

Thank you guys for the quality posts! I will think about them and write later!

Gl