^^ Other than the standard "Be patient, be positive, and keep at it," which is valid here but likely something you do not wish to hear, here are some suggestions, in no particular order, that might be worth considering:
* Keep experimenting with your WBTB times. 6+ hrs of sleep falls well into complete sleep cycle range, so attempting to go back to sleep and dream might run afoul of your body's interest in wrapping up the sleep cycle and starting your day.
* You might want to incorporate
MILD techniques into your practice, so that if you fall back to non-lucid sleep, you will be prepared to induce a DILD, which is just as good as a WILD if it means you got lucid.
* It can take a matter of a few seconds to drop into sleep -- and to wake from sleep -- so that 3-minute time frame is not a surprise. I would suggest that you did indeed give up too early in this case: if you have a quick snooze during a WILD, I think it is better to look at it as a confirmation that you are indeed going to fall asleep eventually (because you just did), and use that confirmation to return to your WILD with a bit more confidence in falling asleep and getting started with your dream.
* You might want to consider a stronger
mantra, one that holds your focus not only through all that noise but also through those moments of sudden drowse. A mantra that has something specific to your dream goals would probably help; for instance, if you expect to be on a beach during your LD, something like "Awake on the beach" might be in order. This sort of mantra might also make it easier to form the dream as well:
* Don't forget to
form your dream. When all that crazy stuff starts to happen, that means it is time to start visualizing your dream, or at least thinking about nothing but what you will be doing once there (without losing your mantra, BTW). Just witnessing all the
noise and continuing to wait fro something to happen to you -- without your input -- is almost a guarantee that you will indeed just fall asleep or fully wake up.
* Use this class or perhaps other tutorials (like DV's official
WILD tutorial, by Gab) as surrogates for your experience until you finally find what works best for you until you finally succeed with your first WILD. We will never know exactly what you need, but we can come close. Until you are experienced, be confident in your knowledge (it does help).
* Make sure you are working on the
fundamentals. The steps in this WILD class (and the tutorials, and, well,
any technique) are secondary to having your head in the right place. If you are not doing day-work to build your self-awareness and memory (i.e. RRC's, keeping a dream journal, RC's), building expectation by confidently and specifically anticipating your upcoming LD, or setting and holding your intention when you go to bed at night (as well as when you lay down to WILD), then you might never succeed in your WILD. Yes, WILD's do happen without the fundamentals in place, but those are accidents, and not something you can assume will happen every time, just because you are doing a technique.
* I think I said this in my previous post, but remember that there is no shame in DILD. WILD is not a better way to transition, just a different one, based more on convenience or timing than quality. If you are having trouble with WILD, spend some time focusing on DILD. Ultimately is is important to be able to do both, so that you can choose which route according to your schedule or mood, so practicing DILD has to be done eventually.
* And yes, above all, be patient, be positive, and keep at it. The best things in life never come easily, and LD'ing is definitely one of those best things. Give your work as much time as it needs, and try not to establish a limit to the number of tries you make.
That's what I got; hopefully something up there will be of use to you!