5.52am and there she is.

Old, dedicated lady - with an ancient Japanese brush broom - relentlessly scratching away the autumn leaves that accumulate daily.

Why does she do it?

I run alongside the Meguro river, and her section of the pathway is pristine. I see no home nearby, no institutions, no reason why she would be so obsessed about keeping her little section clean.

But she does. She is there every day I am there.

I have to be early to catch her - she's like a secret missionary. Come at 7am and she's gone. But her pathway is pure, the way is clean. I feel her presence, even in her absence.

The Buddhist in me is inspired to wonder, so I start to wonder…

Time for my autumn Buddhist checklist. Are you practicing the 6 paramitas?

1. Generosity - who will you help today? Who can you give your time to?
2. Morality - ethics relative to your culture and beliefs - are you being true to Self?
3. Patience - Is built upon giving, authentically - (1 & 2) - it involves listening to others

These first three practices can be simply incorporated into your business. Businesses build on greed, manipulation and hard selling inevitably fail, Exxon being a timely example of that. However, giving - in whatever way is appropriate - produces ethical behaviour, which in turn produces a practice that is orientated to respond to appropriately to students.

These are not separate practices, these follow Alexander thinking: all together, one after the other. Each paramita produces the next state of mind, and together serve as a foundation for your long-term success in business. No business has survived long term without a clear set of values, whether you agree with them or not.

The final 3 paramitas are (my interpretation):

4. Enthusiasm
5. Enquiry
6. Wisdom

I've written about enthusiasm a lot - how important it is that you love what you do, and love the people you do it with. In ATSuccess, we actually make this the first step.

But isn't enthusiasm easily crushed?

At his trial, Socrates was quoted to have said: "An unexamined life is not worth living."

Exactly. To maintain enthusiasm, we practice Enquiry (Meditation). We examine. In ATSuccess 12 steps this is Step 9: Turnaround.

Turn around what?

Turn around beliefs and ideas that crush your enthusiasm.

The hidden secret - which surprises many members who join ATSuccess - is that building a successful business involves a spiritual journey into your values, beliefs and behaviours. It is a supreme opportunity to apply all you have studied into an activity that will benefit others, and leave your world a little better than you found it.

ATSuccess 60Day Foundations Course