I certainly find that sitting down and running through things in my head really helps
Yup. Long before I was old enough to start taking flying lessons, I had access to an abandoned Cessna 185 fuselage. It still had most of the controls and instruments. Nothing "worked", but it did in my mind. I would practice for hours, entertaining myself with my piloting prowess. When I was finally allowed to leave the ground in a Cessna, all the controls and instruments were ingrained in my mind, other than these worked! I knew the "whats" and "wheres", I just had to then perfect the "hows". I found piloting easy, and advanced pleasingly. My only delay was waiting to be old enough to take each next licensing step.
It costs nothing to sit in a parked plane, and rehearse piloting...