I usually fall asleep fairly quickly, but when I attempt to LD, it takes forever. Is it supposed to be this way?
If you are referring to falling asleep slowly while practising WILD, often for beginners, it does take a long time before going to sleep. WILD requires that you keep your mind relatively conscious while you enter the dream state. It requires a fine balance, and it pretty challenging to do.
To help, try performing WILD after having slept for 5 hours. Get up for 15 - 30 minutes and then return to bed, trying the WILD technique again.
Maybe you’re focusing too hard… try to let go of your consciousness just a little bit. Don’t strain yourself, just keep a “neutral” kind of state of mind.
My one and only (spontaneous though) successful WILD happened when I wasn’t focusing like crazy, but when I just observed all the images and entered a dream in a relaxed and calm state.
If you’re doing MILD, then I don’t see any need to “over-focus” at all… you don’t need to stay up half the night thinking about LD’s, it’s enough just to remind yourself a few (maybe like 20 times) that you’re going to realize you’re dreaming right before you fall asleep.
When I first tried WILD, I stayed up for around 2 hours but it worked. I think it was due to excitement. Stay calm and don’t focus too hard.