There are millions of people out there in the world. Out of those millions. I would say at least half if not three quarters or more have access to history books (just guessing on the number, and yes I know history is well slanted/edited shall we say lol). Soooo then why do humans not learn from their mistakes? Well, many of humanities mistakes stem from internal forces... Mainly fear or laziness as is pointed out in the movie "A waking life". There is an old saying "no guts no glory" which means if you don't fight like hell, to overcome your challenges then your life may suck. This is why most people are not making any progress and instead of rehashing old problems, people figured out thousands of years ago. I mean to be fair, even though governmental issues and stuff like that, the average Joe has little control over, the way that you run your life is totally fixable.
You can always overcome your own past mistakes right? Well, you can, if you have the willpower to do so, and the energy to carry out your plans. These are pretty important building blocks but say you do have those 2 things... Well first off you can always read books to figure out how people overcame issues similar to what you are dealing with. Certain people have most likely overcome any specific problem that you are dealing with. There is nothing new under the sun. If you need more money, you can read books on feng shui, money management, get a second job, ask elders how you can improve etc. If you want more love you can learn about how to heal yourself subconsciously through art, spiritual practices, fasting and other internal emotional release modalities. If you want more fun, well you can always find new friends and make new ways to go out and have more fun.
I would say that the hardest things to overcome are usually a lack of energy and a lack of willpower. If you don't have those two it may require some deep healing work with qualified acupuncturists or spiritual healers of some kind. I think many have also faced challenges that seemed just too big for them to face. When these types of challenges present themselves you just have to ask yourself what you are willing to accept in terms of quality of life and dig deep to try to fix that as soon as possible. These conditions may necessitate the Malcolm X maxim of "by any means necessary". Whatever you have to do to get yourself out of an energy or spiritual depression rut, you just have to do it. Otherwise, well, it's not good...