A wise man gets learning from those who have none.

Learning from your mistakes is often painful but usually effective: no one wants to repeat a painful experience. The school of hard knocks tries and tests us and we graduate with honors in proportion to our bruises. But what if there was an easier way?

Instead of taking all the hard times yourself why not just observe others taking the blows of their follies and you can avoid what they have done. Learn to be observant and note what works for others and what does not.

Trial and error constitutes a wasteful method, try thinking first, says the proverb and you can add other people's trials and errors to that.