It is not false, for example Albert Einstein was developing his Theory and he could do it because he was in a research ground where they were doing research about infinitesimal calculus, which was handy for Einstein to apply to his theory. But I think it wouldn't be clear to apply infinitesimal calculus to his theory if he didn't know it in advance. Or at least, we aware of it and its possibilities.

When you face a new problem, you just don't know how to find a solution, you based your hypothesis in the knowledge you already have. You can do research, but the more knowledge you have the less research you will do. And that time you save is money the company saves.

Anyway, you decide what to do with your life. If you are happier raising a family that is good. If you are happy learning stuff to apply to better jobs, that is good too. But obviously you cannot have everything because time is finite.