The only other advice I've ever heard is if you find that the "standard approach" just isn't working for you - and we're talking you've been at this for months with no success, despite actual effort, not giving up in the first few attempts - you can always try the exact opposite. Instead of resisting the urge to focus on your thoughts, embrace it fully. Focus on all the thoughts that come to you, and don't dismiss any of them. Try not to analyze them at this stage - you're going for focus, not thought. Just hold them in your mind for as long as you can, adding any new thoughts as they come. This approach will also take some time to figure out properly, but if it works, one of two things will happen. Either you'll reach your limit and come out of the process feeling refreshed and recharged - meaning successful meditation has been achieved! - or you'll drop into the state you were trying for originally with the "standard approach" - and then you can start exploring everything else that's possible within the "cleared mind" meditative state.
Again, this is *not* a good approach for starting out. It won't even work for most people, and even when it does, it's a lot harder to do successfully. So consider this an intermediate approach, that might be necessary to getting to many of the other basic level activities you're aiming to do.