MILD is something I do while lying in bed because I see it as a way to direct your thoughts before sleep. I will say a few affirmations aloud first. Usually a very powerful, determined. and happy, "I will have a LD tonight." I will repeat this about 5 times. Then I silently go through a list of what you said, Recognition, Clarity, Control, Goals, and Recall. That looks something like, "I will have a LD tonight. The next thing I see will be a dream. My dream signs are... I will recognize that I'm dreaming. I will be calm and attentive in my dream. I have complete control of my dreams. I have absolute power over my dreams. In my dream I will... Tomorrow I will remember every detail of my dream." I will say this 2-5 times, and I may start to shorten it to the "essentials" as I continue. Then I start my "actual MILD." In my mind only I will repeat again and again a single phrase. Usually, "I am dreaming." If my mind drifts to something else I simply continue my phrase once I catch myself. I do not reprimand myself or get frustrated in any way that my mind drifted. Doing so will only put energy into that thought and then into your frustrations which will take power and energy away from your MILD. Instead, I see it as a good sign that my mind is drifting off to sleep. By doing MILD this way I can just keep going and it actually helps me to sleep. In fact, I think if you are keeping an internal calculator of how many times you have said your phrase it puts more focus on getting it done than the meaning behind it.
You mentioned that you don't like the repetitive phrases because your mind loses concentration on them, but I would argue that's the point. You want the phrase in your subconscious. If you are repeating it without using your conscious mind then it's your subconscious that is working. So repeating it this way is embedding it deeper and deeper in your subconscious.
Like I said though, I do use the technique you mentioned to begin with, but I do this to create a positive affirmation in my conscious mind so that when my consciousness becomes active in my dreams I won't be lost.
Hope this helps! I'm pretty tired so I'm not sure, lol.