Being only slightly less skeptic than is popularly considered reasonable (or more skeptic - skeptic about skepticism itself too) I'd say your conclusion is not strictly valid. Perhaps you were doing it wrong. Like people who can't swim are doing it wrong until they get it. Or perhaps ice skating can make a better example. Imagine you have never ever used you hand and don't remember how to - can you expect it to start moving the way you want just by imagining the motion (you probably are aware of the difference between inner experiences taking place when imagining your hand moving and when actually moving it already) and waiting it to occur?
There is a Ukrainian psychotechnologist Oleg Bakhtiyarov[1] who has written (in a fairly scientific manner) a book titled "active consciousness" (only available in Russian unfortunately as well as a number of his lectures on YouTube) on how to develop mind functions most of the people don't know they have. I (as well as many other people, mostly those practicing freediving) have successfully mastered some of the techniques he teaches and can this way guarantee his job is far from being pure science fiction, I have not came far enough to develop telepathic skills though (yet I believe those interested in trying should probably go this way).
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Bakhtiyarov