Help with Directions in Borderlands 2?

Hey guys. I'm currently 31 hours into Borderlands 2 and having a fun time. However I'm running into a problem that I've run into in a lot of other open world video games -- I'm shit at spacial planning and figuring out directions. I can see on the map how to get from point a to point b but I have no idea the actual path system to get there. I'm currently on the mission to find Mordecai's bird and am at my breaking point -- I could just look up how to get there like I have a couple times before with other things but I really want to be able to figure this out on my own. Does anyone have any advice or tricks they use for navigating Borderlands?