Zoth summed it up pretty good. I used to think the exact same thing as you Eamo. For instance, back when I first started practicing self awareness and DILD in general, I would practice them for 2 weeks straight and get nothing. I never gave up though. Soon a month passed and I still stayed persistent and practiced both "techniques". After a month of practicing them, they both became second nature and suddenly I found myself becoming lucid in at least half of my dreams every night.

Persistence does it along with true, un-stressed, genuine effort on your part. Sure it gets tiring being self aware all day for me(not really anymore,(when I first started) but it pays off every night to the point where it feels like you're living two different lives because of the frequency of LDs. Trust me, if you spend enough time with one technique, after a month or so it clicks and the LDs come every night.