I am convinced that selfishness is counter-productive.
When a person is selfish, they put so much effort into controlling their environment, and the people in it, that the satisfaction they receive from accomplishing their selfish goal is greatly suprassed by the pain, effort, and/or stress involved in trying to make things happen the way they want. Rather than trying self-control on for size, they rather attempt to control or manipuluate others (especially those closest to them) so that they can be comfortable. Rather than setting aside expectations and ambitions for the sake of relationship, they cling to those things, while making others miserable. They thereby are placed under more stress, as they end up trying to control numerous other individuals, as well as events, rather than just themselves and their own reactions to their environment. They leave themselves free to react however they please, and usually that includes bad attitudes, anger, complaining, lack of contentment, and other forms of negativity. This could all be avoided if they tried to show a little self-control and God-dependance rather than others-control and self or circumstance-dependance.