how do you keep track of pieces in 3bld memorisation?

beginner in 3bld, have only gotten one successful solve so far. what i struggle with the most is not remembering the letters, but while tracing, keeping track of all the pieces ive already visited, in case a cycle ends and i have to start a new one (OP). how do you guys deal with this? is it just something that gets better with practice? currently i cant immediately tell which piece goes where without looking, should i just work on that before continuing doing attempts?