I think the trick is finding your blend of sight vs. sound. Certainly, visual representation is important, but should not be your sole reference point and the same for hearing. I know it sounds kind of like a martial arts movie cliche, but a mentor of mine would actually blind fold me and put me in front of a 15 band EQ. The results always suprised me a bit visually in terms of which frequencies were boosted and which were attenuated. The whole point of the exercise was to learn to trust my ears, which as everyone has mentioned, is not emphasized enough in many settings. Just my thouhgts.

i look at numbers after i set the EQ (only exception is Q because its hard to tell exactly how wide it is). i just use the lines as a guideline. like, 'okay im reacing the 6dB mark, maybe im boosting a little off', so ill readjust the freq a little.

reason 3 has a very easy to use mastering system (their default settings are ass..). ive been using it to brush up on mostly my EQing skills (EQing synth is a lot, easier in a sense, i dont know where frequencies will lie, but i know how it should sound). using it a little for brushing up compression/limiting too, since im only going off a peak/VU meter, which will only tell me if im squishing the sound too much.