Alot of people starting out always think of it as Follow the steps exactly or else it’ll fail, which isn’t true, It’s very important to improve your dream Recall and a DreamJournal is the best way to improve it.
Don’t worry about not doing Reality Checks all the time, i just do them when i notice I’m daydreaming (Which is alot), if something seems weird or your in an unfamiliar place and if i think about Lucid Dreaming (Which is also alot).
MILD is a good technique to start out with but everybodys different so check here [All LD techniques) for a list of techniques, find one you like and are comfortable with.
Good luck.