Your RC's failed because you were doubting it was a dream. I remember when this happened to me one time. btw My RC check is pretty drastic, I always go find myself a window to jump out of(if you live in a tall building). But that one time, I was reluctant to do it because the dream felt so real, even though it wasn't. But, think about it, when you are in reality, you know pretty much 99% of the time that it's real. You don't even question that it's a dream. So everytime you do an RC, it's likely that you are already in a dream. So if it ever occurs to you again that you are doing an RC, just snap out of it and embrace that it is the dream. You kna mean?
There are a lot of better RC's. At this point, I don't even require RC's but if I have to, I usually go outside and try doing something unusual such as, if you live in an apartment, go try opening someone's door. Talking to random DC's like on the streets would be.
Try solving a math problem such as evaluating an integral...