When tracking with an ADF, either fixed card or RMI a saying that pilots find useful is "push the head, pull the tail." The simulation below clarifies what this saying means.
When tracking inbound to a station always look at the "head" of the needle. By head we mean the end with the arrow on it. The head ALWAYS moves away from the nose of the airplane, so we can say that the nose "pushes" the head away. Thus, to get the head of the needle to move to our desired track we must move the nose of the airplane to the opposite side. Once you have the nose positioned you can imagine a little bulldozer appearing that pushes the needle where you want it. The simulation below demonstrates this. It also shows a little tractor that pulls the tail of the needle toward the nose. Thus if you want to track outbound you must keep the nose on the side of the tail as the track you are trying to intercept / track.