I've had a few experiences with waking up just before my alarm goes off, or waking up naturally at a time of night that I wanted to.

Like last night when I had my first successful WILD, I woke up naturally in the middle of the night and had the impulse to try WILDing. It was all unintentional, and completely successful.

I find that when I use an alarm, it startles me too much and either, I forget the dream I had or I am too tired because I was woken up too early, or both. This is problematic for dream recall and WILDing successfully in the middle of the night.

Anyone wake themselves up without an alarm? How do you do it, do you just have to go to sleep early enough and have the intent to wake up? Does not being in full belief that it will work make it not work? Thanks.