Here is an interesting article that talks about success. It’s pretty long, but the takeaway that I appreciated the most from it was the author’s distinction between expensive and inexpensive experience:

“Expensive experience is what happens when you try to do it all yourself and make a lot of pricey mistakes because you don’t know what you’re doing. It costs you precious time, money, and can even cost you your professional reputation.” (See Article), while “[I]nexpensive experience … refers to studying the strategies of successful people who have already traveled down the path you’re about to go on.” Id. 

I think that this was a unique perspective that I hadn’t thought of before. Learning from the lessons of others can be a type of experience for us!