Don't feel too bad, a lot of people get tripped up on that.
The directions always come in pairs, and might be written as something like "left of west" or "west of left," both of which would indicate the button on the left side of the left pedestal. Every button is only used once, and the sequence resets if you make a mistake.
There's also a "just the important stuff" option after you read the story for the first time that might help. You can check that at any point while solving the puzzle - it won't reset unless you leave the room or push an incorrect button.