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Nobody optimizes happiness
Because they conflate ambition with the single-minded pursuit of an end destination, traditional methods of pursuing goals have an effect counter to their intent: they create a discouraging perspective where we are far from success. Our satisfaction—the best version of ourselves—lies somewhere in the future.
Anne-Laure Le Cunff • Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World
The great irony is that those who dedicate their lives to hunting the chimera are the least likely to find it. As the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl warned, you can’t pursue happiness head-on. It will find you, but only as an unintentional byproduct of some worthier goal. Instead of chasing a mirage, eyes forever fixed on the destination, all we can do
... See moreRichard Meadows • Optionality: How to Survive and Thrive in a Volatile World
Note that seeking happiness as an end might be counterproductive. Many people report that constantly checking to see if they are happy actually decreases their happiness - a report that fits with the research on "flow." It may be better to seek some of the above goals as ends, and happiness will be a side-effect.
LessWrong • How to Be Happy - LessWrong
happiness less as a goal and more as a by-product of mastery and meaning.