Use another language
Java is an okay language. There are better languages, many of which now run on the JVM and have interoperability with Java libraries and code you've written in Java:
- JRuby
- Jython
- Scala
- Clojure
- Groovy
Of these, I tend to use JRuby for little scripts and I use Scala as my main Java replacement language, since you can pretty much do with Scala anything you can do with Java, but it just looks and feels nicer.
Use Lombok
Project Lombok reduces the amount of boilerplate you have to write in Java. Use it.