Sometimes being self-serving is not
a short-term goal. Certain skills have
a broader focus, like ''learning''.
A long term (but yet relatively 'greedy')
approach is to greedily take advantage
of 'Meta-Benefits' like an ''opportunity''
to learn or try something new.

So the immediate benefits are not
apparent because the greediness is
not about immediate, tangible results.
It is about the ''process'' of
creating future tangible benefit.

-- DavidCymbala

(Full pattern form in the works.)

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One of my favorite quotes is from one of my favorite books: CatsCradle by KurtVonnegut.  In it, he describes a religion named Bokonon which has as one of its tenets:  "Short trips are dancing lessons from god."

In other words, opportunity presents itself and you never know where it will lead.  Taking these diversions can be a LongTermGreedyAlgorithm. -- 
MichaelFeathers