If you repeat the same mistake that you made in the past in the same way that you did it before, then you obviously have not learnt anything from that past experience. More often than not, the purpose of the past is to teach lessons that can come in handy in the future. It does not matter how bad the past may look like, it still serves a purpose - to teach lessons. This is why I believe that what happens to someone cannot be completely useless because it adds to the person's experiences. If you will be able to apply the experiences of the past to the present, you will discover how better you have become.
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While growing up, during the days of my junior secondary school, there was this friend of mine that was almost never serious about his academics even though he was naturally brilliant. The problem was that he would not just bend down to read even when the exam was around the corner, he would play and while away his time on the things that did not matter. In this part of the world, when a student wants to cross over from the junior secondary school to the senior, they will write an examination; Junior WAEC, to test their readiness for the next class.
By the time the exam was written, the boy did no make his mathematics which he was obviously good at, and which was a major requirement. So he had just one option left; to re-sit it at a scheduled time and do excellently well, if not he will repeat the same class and wait for the next year to write the exam again. At this point, he realized that his own fate was in his hands and he needed to take quick action so that the mistake of the past will not repeat itself again. He became so serious with his studies - which was the most serious we have ever seen of him. He was so submerged in studying that one would think he was preparing for his Degree examination.
He laid hold on some past questions to help him with the revision, most especially the one he wrote before and failed. About two week later, the mathematics exam was rescheduled and to everyone's amazement, he emerged as the top-4 in that particular exam. He later told us that what they set was almost what he read from the past questions, so he was able to apply the knowledge from it to pass the exam. In life, your "yesterday" also serves the same purpose as the past questions. If only you can apply the knowledge you have from what has happened to what is currently happening, you will easily solve the challenges of life.
It is worthy to note that there is almost nothing that is happening now that has never happened before, maybe in just a different format. So if you will be able to just appropriate your experiences of the previous moments, you will scale over it. This is the reason I believe that "experiences make one better and wiser." Any experience that can be termed as completely bad is the one that you did not learn anything from. But as long as you learnt something from it, then it is not completely bad.
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As you interact with people, even in your day-to-day activities with them, there will definitely be something to learn from them. It is the collection of these experiences that tend to make you to become a better version of yourself. More so, it is worthy to note that perfection is not achieved overnight, neither is it conferred on someone. If you must achieve perfection and excellence, then you have a lot of work to do. You should also know that everyone and everything can actually be a potential teacher, so do not look on anyone as not having a usefulness to you. After all, growth takes time, so also is perfection.
There is no one that you see as perfect in what they do that did not invest so much time, energy and resources to achieve it. If you must see greatness, then you have to be willing to pay, in full, the required price - and this also includes learning from the past. One of the things that I have learnt over the years is that; sometimes you may only need to refer to the knowledge of yesterday, so as to solve the challenges of today.
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