You have clearly stated though that what makes you happy would be to create things that "would persist in history and influence other people". For some reason

You have clearly stated though that what makes you happy would be to create things that "would persist in history and influence other people". For some reason you then define something that would make you unhappy as 'happy' "For me, to be happy with limited success and a more laid-back pace would be a kind of personal death." You mentioned you can't be happy with that, so it doesn't make sense to define that as happiness. Optimising for happiness is going to be different for each person, and from your post, it seems it you should be optimising for creating things that will persist in history and influence people, because that is what you have mentioned will make you happy.