Everyone starts out like that, the reason some become better is because they learn to do it, by not using GPS all the time.<p>For me it was easy, I'm old enough that the first many years of driving a car, I didn't have a GPS device.. The first years, I used old fashioned paper maps, the kind you could buy in every gas station, when visiting a new place.<p>There simply was no other way.. You'd study the map to find the destination first, then plan a route, then study the route "okay, this route until a street with that name, down that street until the very end, then left" this sort of thing..<p>Limit your options, when your plans depend on it, you'll learn.<p>Be more like a child, remember when you were learning to read? How you'd try to read all text you came across? Do that with cardinal points, when you're in any place, look at the map (oriented so North is up), look around, usually you'll find a street name and a crossing or something to help you identify your point on the map..<p>Yes, maps are central to learning to navigate, they're an abstraction that you can learn to build internally.<p>Even computer games will help, just the other day, I played "dayz" for the first time, and found a map, and my real-world mapreading skills were immediately applicable. It could also be a game like minecraft, something with large environments, where you'll need some sense of direction to do anything useful.