Also there's nothing more fake than a "happiness expert".
This is also very well trod ground, Plato did a good job on it.
Plato would have called your definition of happiness hedonism.
He would have called the articles definition of happiness eudaimonism, and that lines up pretty good with what you said can make you miserable. Plato and happiness scientists generally agree that eudaimonism is the best route to long term happiness.
Perhaps we should just stop using the word happiness and use the words pleasure and satisfaction instead.
When you ask a software developer that has worked for 3 years on a "successful" side project. He will probably tell you that it cost him lots of evenings he could have been seeing friends or sleeping. Yet that same person may feel very satisfied for having done so.
Still. It is difficult territory. Dissatisfaction is often leads to action that can then lead to "societal success". Should you be dissatisfied then? The Tony Robbinses of the world might say yes!
I think you're misconstruing this a bit. Plato and some happiness scientists see eudaimonia as superior to "affect" (the actual emotional state of "happy"). One is not a route to the other.
Daniel Kahneman is, as far as I can make out, a hedonist and so, fwiw, am I. To me eudaimonia is just smugness
> We don't really want what we think we desire.
You state this like getting in history books is a universal desire, or a common goal for everyone.
Why is getting in history books a desired thing?
“Getting in the history books” aka fame is per definition never going to happen for most people. An important part of growing up is recognizing that you are neither rich nor famous and properly won’t be. General life advice needs to take that into account.
I had fun once. It was awful.