GPS can fail and a compass may even fall and break. A topo map and the imagery it creates is forever.
Before I go out to a new location, I carefully study the topo map. I try to envision the map in 3D and my route along the way. When out in the new area, I won't have visualized the trail itself but I will have a good mental picture of what the terrain should look like as I proceed on my route. If I get turned around, I'll stop, relax, do a 360 degree view of the terrain around me, then try to find it from my mind's mental picture.
A good test is get your topo map and focus on the area you'll going. Then, get playdough, or a box of wet sand, and actually create the topo map in 3D. Create peaks, saddles, ridges, depressions, valleys and creeks. Use a pencil tip or knife to draw the path of travel then visualize what your surroundings should look like from start to finish. Learn to identify handrails and backstops. They'll help you keep you in your intended line of travel.
Tomorrow, I am going to do an overnight in a new area about a mile and a half from a location I've been to many times. I'm told the trail is more of a herd path and passes through a cedar swamp. I've studied the topo map intensely and hope it will confirm what I expect to see along the way. It better as it will be very cold tomorrow night and I don't want to be traipsing around lost in the dark.
Here are two best references regarding terrain association I know of:
https://www.adkhighpeaksfoundation.org/navagation.php
http://550cord.com/land-navigation-training/map-reading-land-navigation-ch11.asp