Help with WBTB-WILD (sleep) timing

Hi guys.

No matter what I do, it seems I can never fall asleep after WBTB. I end up spending the rest of the night in this half-asleep state, feeling like I am phasing in and out of sleep with only short non-lucid fragments to show for it.
Therefore, I had a question:

I know that WBTB timing differs from person to person and that you can write down the times when you get up to learn your sleep timing. But I never remember waking up during the night, although I know I do! What can I do to realize this more often? Mantras? Any other tips?

Thanks in advance.

P.S. I'll keep trying, of course. With positive expectations, as always.

I would go for the mantras

Personally, I think that WBTB timing is a thing that can just over stress people and is mostly a waste of time... I mean, the timing of sleep stages fluctuates, as well as the type of sleep stage too, so it's very unlikely to get the WBTB timing 100% figured out. Especially if sometimes you wake up later or earlier or go to sleep later or earlier (even if by several minutes)... Realistically speaking, it's fairly impossible to maintain a strict sleeping schedule that won't fluctuate at all - so the timing of sleep stages is going to fluctuate too. I don't know - maybe I'm wrong about it, and maybe it's just me, but I find it's better to not worry about timing at all (I do aim to wake up between 4 to 7 hours of sleep, but that's about it)

In my opinion, it's much more important to choose the right technique and the WBTB duration based on the amount of sleep and wakefulness (so basically choosing things like that in the moment).
I know the "half-asleep state" you are referring to - to avoid it you might want to experiment with the duration of the WBTB rather than with its timing. Also, for me the optimal WBTB duration is dependent on the amount of "wakefulness" - if I feel very awake from the start the WBTB duration is going to be shorter than if I wake up drowzy and can barely sit up...

About tips for waking up at night - I use a combination of things: mantras, training myself to recognize micro-awakenings, drinking too much (so I wake up to pee), and sometimes even using a short and not too loud custom alarm.