A bit of both, i started lucid dreaming a long time ago and being a kid i was curious about it so i started researching ways to make it more consistent. The 2 biggest tips i can give are as follows. 1) keep a dream journal, and start recording in as much detail as possible what you remember. This helps because it ties the dream world to the real one in a physical way making you more likely to remember dreams. It takes what your mind would normaly disregard and gives it purpose. 2) do a dream check, some people pinch themselves to see if they feel pain but this doesnt work as while lucid dreaming everything will feel and even look or smell real to you. Personaly i try to make a ball of energy i do this whenever i wake up just to make sure. This is because in reality i cant do this, so when i find myself concious in a dream and i do this and it works it solidifies to my mind that what its experiencing is a dream.