There's a bunch of synthing compasses on-line you can look at. Generally you're suppose to face in one direction (depending on your crystal) for a higher chance of succeeding, and another (also depending on your crystal) for skillups.

http://www.iluvitar.com/sections/ffx...t/compass.html

I don't think there's anything solid, but I tried it out to level up my Cooking craft, and I made it from 2-10 in a fairly short amount of time. So maybe it's true?