what is the MATH of life?

Just finished reading The three mistakes of my life by Chetan Bhagat, an author from India. (one night @the call center) Great book to read.
The sentences that I highlighted are : "Figuring out the math of Life is important.
Well what is that? Who you are, what do you want versus what people expect from you. And how to keep what you want without pissing off people too much. Life is an optimisation problem with tons of variables and constraints."

So if you would look at your life as a math problem, where is your optimisation and where are the variables and constraints and how do they play into your decisions?
What steps would YOU take the optimise your life? Have you ever thought about sitting down and creating your ideal life. That is optimisation! That really addresses who you are and what you want. Consider it and take time this weekend to think about even one aspect of your IDEAL life.