^^ Reality checks would be a portion of it, yes, but your overall goal would be building your self-awareness and memory to a point where you are able to recognize your presence wherever you are, including in a dream (doing so in waking life is harder than you might think!). Also, during this process your expectations should shift toward an almost unconscious assumption that you'll be LD'ing, simply because you're putting so much of your time and mind to the cause.

I haven't much time right now, but you might want to check out my DVA WILD Class, as its sessions on mental prep say more about waking life work, and what's there actually applies to whatever method you choose to become lucid... You also might check out my Lucid Dreaming Fundamentals thread; it's a bit of a read, but it covers this stuff in fairly extensive detail.