Happiness is a metric for which you can optimize, which then would be productivity. But in the first place people don't want to be happy, they want to survive, need to move and grow, happiness comes just after the important foundation is secured.

And optimizing the necessary and boring parts, to have more time for happiness makes totally sense. For example, the less time I waste on necessary household chores which are eating my free time, the more time I will have with actual free time which I then can use for things which will make me happy.

Author here. This is essentially what I’m getting at!

You cannot be happy all the time, contentment and peace is what we all can achieve, spiced with happiness here and there.