The other day, I was sitting in a café, observing people around me. A businesswoman nervously checking her watch while simultaneously talking on the phone and typing an email. A young entrepreneur with dark circles under his eyes seeking energy for the rest of the day in his third cup of espresso. A couple sitting across from each other, both staring at their phones instead of talking. Familiar, isn’t it?
For twenty years, I’ve been working with people, from startups to corporate leaders, and I always hear the same unspoken question: “Is this all there is?” Successful, accomplished professionals whose resumes shine with impressive positions and projects, yet in their eyes, I see an emptiness that screams: “I have everything I thought I needed – but I feel like I have nothing.”
This profound disconnect between external success and internal unrest isn’t accidental. It’s the inevitable consequence of our era’s greatest delusion: the belief that professional and personal lives are two separate realities operating by different rules.
Business Isn’t Separate From Life – It’s Life’s Most Dynamic Expression
Look at our reality. We spend a minimum of 8-10 hours daily at work. Several more hours thinking about it. Workplace relationships affect our mood at home. Finances from our professional sphere determine the quality of our personal life.
Yet somehow, we’ve accepted narratives that fragment us: “Business is just business” or “Leave your personal life at home,” and my (least) favorite “It’s nothing personal, it’s just business.”
These misconceptions distance us from wholeness and push us into an endless race for “more” – more projects, more money, more status – believing this will somehow make us happier, while we’re actually moving further away from ourselves.
Two decades of research, working with thousands of individuals and organizations, and my own professional and personal journey, have led me to a revolutionary yet simple insight: The same principles that govern our personal lives govern our professional success.
These principles are the four basic mathematical operations we all learned in elementary school but never applied to our own lives and work.
ADDITION: Who Are We When We Remove All Masks?
The first and most important operation for success isn’t a marketing strategy or financial plan. It’s a deep addition of everything we already are.
Consider what I call your VEST coordinate system:
- Values that guide your decisions when nobody’s watching
- Expertise in which you’re truly good, not just what’s written in your biography
- Sustainable wealth – the optimal amount of money you really need for the life you want
- Time and how you effectively use it according to your natural rhythm
I can see the thought crossing your mind: “Sure, I know who I am.” But let me challenge you – do you really?
Research shows that the average professional makes 60% of their decisions based on others’ expectations, not personal values. Most people don’t have a clear answer to the question: “How much money do I really need?” – instead, they live in a cycle of “never enough.” And when you ask people what they’re truly good at, they typically list skills acquired through education, not their unique superpowers that naturally set them apart.
I found myself in that situation too. For years, I believed my strength was in analytical thinking and planning. Only through deep self-examination did I discover that my true superpower lies in my ability to recognize potential in others and create space for their growth. That realization changed the entire course of my career.
Addition isn’t just listing your skills and achievements, but bravely confronting your authentic nature, which may not align with the role you’re currently playing.
SUBTRACTION: The Most Powerful Operation Everyone Avoids
“Add another course,” “Accept another project,” “Join another group” – we’re surrounded by these messages. But the truth is the opposite: real success begins with subtraction.
As Michelangelo said: “The sculpture already exists within the stone, I just remove the excess.” That’s the essence of transformation – we’re not lacking anything; we’re just buried under so much of what we’re not (anymore).
What can we subtract?
- Inauthentic roles – jobs you do because they’re expected, not because they fulfill you
- Empty activities – purposeless meetings, ineffective processes, endless availability
- Limiting habits – perfectionism, procrastination, micromanagement
- Adopted assumptions – about what others expect from you, which you’ve never verified
A powerful exercise I do with my mentees is the “idle running” diagnostic – identifying activities that consume energy without creating value. Actions we perform to appear productive, not to actually be productive. When we examine each hour of our day and remove idle running, a small miracle happens – we get back 2-3 hours daily, while results remain the same or even improve.
Subtraction often triggers fear – “What if I miss an opportunity?” – but reality shows the opposite: focus is the new superpower. Only when we say “no” to what doesn’t lead us to our authentic path do we create space for what truly fulfills us.
MULTIPLICATION: Small Steps Creating Big Changes
The most widespread misconception in the business world is that results come through heroic efforts and radical changes. The truth is different: sustainable success comes through smart multiplication of small, consistent steps. The real power of this operation lies in synergy with others. Instead of “doing more,” we need to learn to work more meaningfully and connect with the right people who share our values and complement our skills.
What does smart multiplication look like in practice?
- Conscious networking with people who have complementary strengths
- Broadening horizons through interdisciplinary learning
- Consistent application of small improvements
In my case, the key moment came when I accepted that I’m not an expert in everything and that I don’t need to be everywhere all the time. Instead of trying to understand every business discipline myself, I began building a network of experts with whom I exchange knowledge. Instead of appearing at all events, I choose places where I can grow with people and where I can share my knowledge for the greatest good. This change in approach allowed me to multiply my impact far beyond my personal capacities.
What kind of world do you want to live in? Create that world.
DIVISION: The Paradoxical Path From Giving to Abundance
We’ve reached the seemingly most paradoxical secret of success: the more you give, the more you have. No, this isn’t just a nice phrase – it’s a mathematically provable fact.
Why is sharing so powerful?
- Neurobiologically – sharing activates pleasure centers in the brain more strongly than receiving rewards
- Reputationally – consistent giving builds credibility faster than any marketing strategy
- Practically – when you share knowledge, you create an ecosystem that comes back to support you
Adam Grant, a professor at Wharton School of Business, showed in his research that the most successful business people are among the “givers” – those willing to share their knowledge, contacts, and opportunities. But there’s a trap here! Not all givers are equally successful. Many end up exhausted and exploited. The difference between successful and unsuccessful givers? The wisdom of giving – the ability to strategically recognize where and when our giving creates the most value.
At the heart of this wisdom lies what I’ve called the circle of light – the space where our giving creates the greatest value. Imagine it as a lighthouse: it illuminates most intensely what’s closest to it, and as we move away, the light weakens. At the center of the circle of light are people directly connected to our key roles and goals. And don’t fall into the misconception that this is selfish! This approach is strategic wisdom, as time always shows. Our team, key clients, mentors, collaborators with whom we share values and vision – these are the people to whom we should first give our attention, knowledge, and support.
As the circle grows, it encompasses weaker connections – those in other industries, different development stages, or with different values. You give to them too, but more selectively and focused.
The most striking lesson I’ve learned: it’s not crucial how much you give, but to whom you give. Giving to those who are ready, capable, and willing to use it for good creates a chain of positive impact that extends far beyond our direct action.
Announcing the “Being Successful” Development Toolkit
With great excitement, I’m publicly announcing for the first time the “Being Successful” development toolkit – the result of two decades of my work, research, and mentoring. “Being Successful” is a complete transformation system that combines theory and practice. The toolkit consists of two books: “Being Successful in Life” and “Being Successful in Business,” accompanied by workbooks that guide you through the concrete application of each principle. Map plus territory, knowledge plus action.
This edition differs from most content for business and personal growth in one important way: it doesn’t treat you as a divided person. It doesn’t separate “professional you” from “personal you,” but guides you through an integrated, holistic approach to success using the same tools, techniques, and knowledge for success in both (and equally important) aspects of life for each of us.
The Mathematics of Success as the Mathematics of Life
The four basic mathematical operations used in the books throughout the development toolkit aren’t just business or life strategies, but a model for holistic existence where we have time and achieve success in everything. When we apply them to our reality, unexpected changes occur:
- Financial stress decreases because we clearly recognize our “enough number”
- Energy increases because we no longer waste resources on activities that don’t fulfill us
- Relationships deepen because we’re authentically present
- Results naturally improve because we work in alignment with our essence
Through years of working with people and my own (not always simple and easy) journey, I’ve concluded that the only path to sustainable success is one that respects our wholeness. There’s no healthy business without a healthy individual. No healthy society without healthy businesses.
It’s not about what we do, but who we are while doing it and who we become through that work.
“Being Successful” isn’t just a set of books – it’s a system that returns us to ourselves. A method that unifies what our environment teaches us to separate: work and personality, ambition and satisfaction, achievement and peace.
Add what you are. Subtract what holds you back. Multiply opportunities through synergy. Share the best in yourself. Good luck on your journey of discovery, unburdening, multiplication, and wise sharing! Above all, good luck on the journey to your true self — because that’s the only kind of success worth fighting for.
Dr. Dragana Vujović Đermanović is a business mentor, innovator of leadership development methodologies, and author of the “Being Successful” development toolkit to be published soon. Through her mentoring work, she has transformed the lives and businesses of thousands of individuals and organizations, from startups to global companies. She received the “Woman of the Decade in Leadership” recognition at the World Women Economic Forum and the “Architect of Tomorrow” award for her contribution to the development of future leaders. Dragana is also Business Woman of the Year, one of the TOP 100 female entrepreneurs in Europe, a Dragon Woman, and mother of Nikolina (23) and Jovana (19). She lives in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Dragana Vujović Đermanović
