Learn something new: Serendipitous

Serendipitous: 【翻译】 意外之喜, 无心插柳柳成荫

Shorter OED: 1 Of people: having a supposed talent for making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident. M20.; 2 Of an event, discovery, meeting, etc.: occurring by (esp. fortunate) chance; fortuitous. M20.

Serendipity: [ORIGIN from Serendip, -dib, said to be a former name of Sri Lanka + -ity; formed by Horace Walpole after the title of a fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip, the heroes of which ‘were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of’.] (A supposed talent for) the making of happy and unexpected discoveries by accident or when looking for something else; such a discovery. Also loosely, good luck, good fortune.

Thankfully, we now have at least such a word in English to describe the good things we discover when we’re looking for something else. Life is an uncertain, serendipitous journey. We set out for something and get something else instead. Work is also full of serendipities. The joys of making unexpected happy discoveries when working are irresistible to people who take delight in working. We occasionally take some paths that lead off the main road we are hitting, find something new and unexpected, feeling excited, and then get back to the main road. It can be someone or something new.

Serendipitous learning has also been proposed as an interesting learning method.