A simple equation for happiness!
Happiness = The Experience - The Expectation
We feel sorrow when The Expectation exceeds The Experience (that is negative happiness).
Expectation is formed when “we believe” it to be the experience that makes us happy.
What are your views?
Something like you said I guess. Fixating on creating happiness causes suffering.
Happiness is gained when things go our way, so the trick is to set things up so that things always go our way = eternal happiness…
How do we do this?
Through personal experience i’ve found that setting high (even fantastical) expectations from an early age can lead to a nihilistic outlook later on in life.
But experience, be it a sunny day, poverty stricken chirpy people or good movie can relinquish unhappiness.
For want of a more scientific evaluation: Screw the expectation because the experience will always prove you wrong.
Supposing everything is about balance (which it seems to be), then maybe we need to simply accept that whatever emotion the experience creates must be learnt from and not shunned in pursuit of a happier one. (But of course being happy is much better).
By stopping to think of obstacles as problems
Yes 
I believe that every person is different. Everything is relative to every individual. The concept of happiness must also then fall into a persons relative perception of happiness. So in essence the things that make you happy are up to you. For instance a cereal killer may be at his peak of happiness when killing another individual. In his mind that would be considered his happiness.
Another belief that I have on happiness is that there is no happiness without suffering. I believe in order to be happy one must control the amount of suffering one intakes to assure themselves that in the end they will end up having more happiness than suffering. This is how I believe that happiness can be obtained.
The happiness point in my life that i theorize however is when we are a fetus in the womb. You have no worries, perfect conditions, you know nothing, and your body is in complete maintenance. However you know nothing but happiness. And then there lies the argument of; Is ignorance Bliss?
i’m happier when i decrease my expectations. this is especially so with expectations that i place on other people.
my aunt, on the other hand, is incessantly dissatisfied due to her high expectations.
This is best demonstrated in the practice of setting a series of short terms(easierto achieve) goals in order to achieve long term(difficult to achieve) goals.
Something that is the mainstay of therapists.