A compass points to magnetic north, not true north. Even good guides need a little correction.

Reliable guidance is still slightly off, and knowing the offset is part of using it well. The adults you trust, the advice that mostly works, your own instincts: all of them point close enough to be useful and carry a consistent bias from wherever they were formed. Treating a good guide as perfect is how people end up a long way out.

Think about whose advice you take and what their predictable tilt is: too cautious, too optimistic, too sure you should do what they did. Keep taking it and adjust for the tilt. Ask a second person who leans the other way.