I've reduced it to a series of equations:

  Happiness = Perceived Actual Life / Expected Life  --- (1)

where,

  Perceived Actual Life = Perception * Actual Life ----- (2)

and in most cases,

  Expected Life ∝ Perceived Life of Others ------------- (3)

where,

  Perceived Life of Others = Perception * Others' Actual Life -- (4)

and finally,

  Actual Life ∝	(1 / Happiness) * Skill * Circumstance - (5)

The most success I had was in breaking equation (3), and then in upward adjusting Perception in (2). But (5) is the kicker -- it implies that your lack of happiness feeds back into other people's lack of happiness, creating a loop. As long as it holds, everyone will try to one-up each other in trying to improve their lives.

EDIT: corrected error in (1)