So last night was my third attempt at lucid dreaming. Now, I know that lucid dreaming will not happen just overnight. But I am having just regular dreams. There is nothing out of the ordinary. Two nights ago I had a dream that I was laying out by the pool with a friend and my ex just watching other people in the pool taking pictures. Then last night I had a dream that I was at Subway, stood in line for an hour as they continued to mess my order up (I was so frustrated). I've been making sure to do reality checks and I even wrote the word "dream" on my hand so that I was able to see it within my dream, to no avail. While laying in bed, I make sure to repeat until I fall asleep, "I am dreaming". Yet for the past three nights, I have been waking up at around 5am like clockwork. And I've been making sure to write my dreams down as much as I can recall. Is there a certain time of day that would be better for practicing? What other techniques can I try? And how long did it take you before you had your first lucid dream (this question is for those whom lucid dreaming did not come naturally)?