Just in reply to your "tactics".

For one I learned that simply just turning all the lights off in my room and turning my alarm clock to face the wall is better than having a sleep mask because I don't have any obstruction on my face. I sleep with my eyes about halfway open every night anyways. (yeah I know its weird, and it seriously freaks people out)

Blocking time out? Not quite sure I understand what you mean here. I just simply don't think about time, not that it would worry me that much as to lose sleep anyways.

Keeping my mind free helps me get to sleep faster, obviously. If I'm not really exhausted I do have a lot of things on my mind right when I first hit the pillow. What I do is just imagine your thoughts are on a television in your mind and just hit the off switch so it fades to black. Kinda strange but it seems to work for me.

I learned that totally relaxing my entire body really helps me fall asleep much faster. After each breath I try and relax a part of myself. With each breath have each of legs relax and then your arms and finally your eyes and conscious. Seems to work most of the time.

Anyways, I'm usually so exhausted by the end of the night I fall right asleep.
Or I take some melatonin and valerian root.