The Lifelong Learner :: Do what you can, with what you have, where you are -Roosevelt ::

In an ideal environment, you have people that you admire and can learn from. They mentor you. If you have that environment, consider yourself lucky and take advantage of it. It’s one of the best ways to keep learning!

If you don’t have that luxury, and you think people around you are mediocre or just bad, you can learn and keep learning from them as well! How? By observing them and learning what not to do! This was mentioned in How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci book. The author says that he learned the most from bad teachers. He learned what not to do as a teacher.

So here’s how you can keep learning: learn from the best — copy what they do, listen to them; and learn from the worst — avoid doing what they do, or do the opposite.

In essence, put others’ experiences to your own use.

Reference
How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci