Yesterday I was watching my Twitter feed and noticed that John McCain was offering advice to the Romney campaign on what they need to do to win the Presidential election in November.

It got me to start wondering and reflecting on the learning process and how we should screen and filter ourselves from all the possible information that we have around us.

Should we listen to losers?

Should we listen to winners?

Are we aware of the biased viewpoints from the sources we are listening to?

First, let’s delve into the political world.

As far as I know, President Barack Obama did not seek the advice of John Kerry or Al Gore on how to run a successful presidential campaign as a Democrat.

I wonder if the Romney campaign is taking advice from John McCain on how to run a successful presidential campaign as a Republican.

But just because someone was not the ultimate winner, should we dismiss what they have to say because of their “loser status”?

Not so fast.

Hindsight is often an excellent teacher.

Especially if it someone else’s “hind” that we can learn from.

Now, be careful of the advice from both winners and losers.  There could be some blaming going on by the losers and inflated egos from the winners that distort reality.

But if we can learn from others mistakes and insights it can help us to avoid their history.

One of my favorite questions to ask someone is “how did you become successful?” or a similar variation.

Listen carefully.

Pull out the timeless truths that you can apply to your life.

Be willing to have your own beliefs challenged, but hang onto your values.

Now in my 25th year of working in the radio broadcasting industry with a few breaks in between, I value continually learning from others and most of the advice I offer others has its roots based on a combination of lessons learned by both myself and others.