I tend to believe that when dreams are extremely vivid, you're actually on the astral plane and not just dreaming. And so, I think you can awaken into this state..become aware of it..rather than projecting into it. As Namaste said though, the best time to try and project is to hold the intention while you're falling asleep..especially after you just woke up in the middle of the night.
I've found that if you periodically ask yourself if you're dreaming throughout the day, stopping to focus on your conscious awareness and look around, it trains you to ask the question in the dream state. The hard part is being able to tell! Because in some dreams there seems to be a barrier where you can't convince yourself that you're just dreaming.
The idea in Inception of always carrying around an object you're familiar with that behaves in a certain way is really novel. I've never heard of that idea.
I've found that if you periodically ask yourself if you're dreaming throughout the day, stopping to focus on your conscious awareness and look around, it trains you to ask the question in the dream state. The hard part is being able to tell! Because in some dreams there seems to be a barrier where you can't convince yourself that you're just dreaming.
The idea in Inception of always carrying around an object you're familiar with that behaves in a certain way is really novel. I've never heard of that idea.