Thread: General first-timer questions

I've been researching lucid dreams the past few days, and I'm extremely excited about it; I'm hoping to have my first lucid dream in the coming weeks/months (hopefully sooner, though). I have some general questions for you guys:

When confirming reality-checks
If I do a reality check (and let's say it's real life, and I'm not dreaming) and fail the dream test, should I openly say/think: "NO. I'm not dreaming". Or should I combine that with reasons as to why? I don't want my subconscious use to the "NO" part of the reality-check.

Is my reality check good?
Is it good to do one reality check, and then right after that one do another? (I do the test to see if I can push my fingers through my palm, and also try to breathe through my nose will I have my fingers keeping it closed)

My TV
Should I leave my TV off? Will it influence my ability to achieve a lucid dream?

Rough estimate
How long do you think it shall take for me to have my first lucid dream? I've been doing reality checks at least every 15 minutes, if not 30 minutes for the past few days (yeah, I'm REALLY new to this). I've also been keeping a dream journal, but have yet to remember any dreams to record.

Also just started looking into the ADA technique. ;D