When I was 16 years old, I began a pesonal quest to make happiness for myself and others the top goal in my life. The biggest single factor controlling people's happiness and self-actualization is the choice of what Paul Tillich called our ultimate concern.
Many people think that making human happiness a top goal is selfish or naive.
But great philosophers such as the Buddha, Aristotle, Kant and Bertrand Russell all said happiness should be number one for many reasons. Jesus also implied that happiness for self and others was of highest importance. A powerful benefit of making one's ultimate concern mental values like happiness, love, truth, beauty and growth is that they automatically bring peace of mind. The choice of internal, mental values over external values is vital for overcoming anxiety. For example, the instant one makes success a top goal, one will feel bolts of anxiety whenever anything threatens that success.