Feng Shui offers powerful guidance that can help you succeed in every facet of your business. It is ancient wisdom that never seems to lose usefulness no matter how much the world changes. The following are several ideas on how to use Feng Shui to help you in your business.
Put Yourself in the Feng Shui Command Position
This is one of the most important ways to Feng Shui an office space. The Feng Shui “command position” is to have your desk or workspace facing in the direction of the door. This will position you to receive the positive energy (qi or ch’i) moving into your office. However, you also want to position your desk chair or workstation out of the direct line with the door so you have a chance to avoid bad qi heading your way or prepare to deal with it. You don’t want it sneaking up on you from behind and catching you off-guard.
You may find yourself in a situation where putting your desk chair or workspace in the command position is impossible. For example, you may work at a corporation where your desk or workspace cannot be repositioned. If this is the case, a “cure” to this can be the strategic placement of a mirror so you can see what’s coming up behind you. You could also use an object that plays a small sound when someone or something is coming toward you from behind.
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Choosing Your Feng Shui Desk
You want your work desk to be sturdy so it provides you with a good foundation for your business. A solid wooden desk is ideal. Try not to select a desk made of particle board or plastic as these materials are unnatural and not as solid as wood. Further, particleboard and plastic will degas industrial chemicals, such as formaldehyde, into your work environment which will disrupt your qi and harm your health.
While glass desks look sleek, they are transparent which does not provide a good sturdy foundation for your business. Further, glass allows your ideas and creativity to just flow through and away from you. If you can’t find a solid wood desk you like, consider making one out of a wooden table.
Get a Good Sturdy Comfortable Chair & Stay Ergonomic
In Feng Shui, it’s important to feel balanced both mentally and physically. Therefore, for most businesses, having a good sturdy office chair is of utmost importance. In fact, if you spend a lot of time behind a desk in your business, purchasing a good desk chair is perhaps the most important investment you’ll make in your business. Likewise, if you and or your employees stand in the same spots for long periods of time, adding high-quality anti-fatigue mats to these areas would be a great investment and would follow one of the most fundamental Feng Shui principles.
To remain grounded and less distracted, you’ll also want a really comfortable and ergonomic chair that won’t throw your spine out of alignment, make your back sore, or interfere with your circulation. The same would go for all your employees. It’s also a good idea to stand up and walk around periodically for the same reasons. You may want to take a few minutes each day to do some simple neck exercises, back stretches, and calf pumps to keep yourself balanced. To avoid eye strain and to give a fresh perspective, it’s a good idea to refocus your eyes on more distant objects at least a few times an hour. Encourage your employees to do the same. Remember, Feng Shui “preaches” balance in all things and it truly does make you more productive in your business.
Make sure your desk chair feels sturdy in all positions. You don’t want it to wobble or feel like it’s on the verge of toppling over when you shift position or lean back. If your desk chair has wheels, make sure they don’t squeak. Make sure they glide easily and they don’t catch on things as they move. Fix any squeaky doors and drawers. Eliminate as much as possible any other annoyances. You don’t want any unnecessary distractions that will disrupt your energy flow and put you off balance.
Is Your Desk or Office Too Messy?
At the very heart of Feng Shui is keeping the qi, or energy, flowing freely. Clutter in your business will disrupt this qi and thereby disrupt your business. Luckily, decluttering your office, desk, files, worktables, retail spaces, warehouse spaces, meeting rooms, and other business spaces is one of the easiest ways to improve your business. If you declutter and keep your business organized, you’ll be more productive, creative, and proactive in your business. You’ll also be in a better position to receive more new business and valuable information. The same will be true for your business partners and your employees.
A related Feng Shui rule of thumb is to create open space so the good qi can easily flow throughout. You can aim for about fifty percent of your desktop showing. If you’re actively working, i.e. in the middle of a project, this may not apply. However, if you’re allowing papers and other objects to accumulate on your desktop in between work projects, this will impact the free flow of qi and could even prevent you from receiving new business. Likewise, it’s important to keep a sizable portion of your floor space cleared. It’s also a good idea to reorganize and declutter before starting any new major projects.
Setting Up Your Desktop According To a Bagua Map
The Bagua (ba-gua or pakua) is a Feng Shui tool used to analyze the energy in a given space, be it a village, a garden, a home, a room, or even a desktop. A traditional Bagua is octagonal in shape but most western Bagua maps present it as a square equally divided into nine squares (sectors), arranged like the grid on a tick-tack-toe game. Each sector represents a different aspect of your life which can be loosely equated with different aspects of a business. Each sector is also associated with one of the five elements of Feng Shui: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.
In your business, if you spend a lot of time at your desk, then this may be your most influential environment. Therefore, setting up your desktop according to a Bagua map may have the most profound effect on your business. You can find many versions of western Bagua maps online. Consider where you sit and face the desk to be the base of your Bagua map and work from here. Here are a few tips you can start with:
– Place your phone in the “helpful people” corner. This can help you receive more clients and better ideas from consultants you hire like marketers and lawyers.
– In the “love and relationships” corner, you can place a picture of your family to keep you motivated or an award that your business won that required great teamwork and trust between you and your employees.
– In the “knowledge” corner, you can place reports and other information you are reviewing.
– In the “fame” sector, you can symbolize this by placing a small red object. It doesn’t need to be ostentatious as long as you are aware it’s there. You could make it an aspirational object as well.
– In the “health” sector, you can place a small oxygenating plant or a cache of healthy snacks such as a bowl of nuts or energy bars.
– In the “money” corner of your desk, you could place a small water feature to representing money flowing into your business. A plant would work well here too.
Turn Your Bedroom into a Peaceful Restful Sanctuary
After reading this last headline, you may be saying to yourself, “Hey, wait a minute… I thought this article was about how to Feng Shui your business!” It is… but if you don’t keep your life balanced, your business will suffer. This is a foundational principle of good Feng Shui. You simply can’t focus on your business all the time and expect to maximize your business success. The most successful business people are those who either instinctively know this from the beginning or they learn this valuable Feng Shui lesson along the way. Successful business people balance their business life with spending quality time with their family, pursuing personal interests, and taking much deserved periods of rest.
One way to ensure balance in your life is to turn your bedroom, a place where you spend at least one-third of your life, often with your partner, into a sanctuary. You can start by making it a rule to never take your business into the bedroom — no laptop, no papers, no briefcase, no business calls, etc. Here are a couple more tips:
– Feng Shui masters caution against having mirrors across from your bed as they can drain the energy away from you while you sleep. In fact, mirrors, in general, are thought to form a chaotic ricocheting of energy which isn’t conducive to restorative rest and relaxation. Therefore, you may want to remove all mirrors from your bedroom or at least cover them up while you sleep.
– Invest in a good ergonomic mattress that won’t throw your spine or joints out of balance.
– Keep the space beneath your bed cleared so that energy can freely flow all around you while you (and your partner) sleep.
– Keep your bedroom closet doors and all your drawers closed as they can suck the energy out of the room and disrupt energy flow.
Many Feng Shui masters believe that sleep recharges your mind and body with energy, both of which is critical to your business success. Scientists have proven that deep sleep is when the body repairs itself and when the events in short-term memory are cataloged, filed, and put into a deeper context. The mind also receives an unfettered opportunity to let creativity go wild.
Final Note
Feng Shui is not an all or none proposition. You can choose to incorporate Feng Shui principles into your business when it feels most appropriate to do so. Further, you don’t need to use every Feng Shui tip you learn about to make your business a success. Trust your own intuition to help guide you as your research and implement this fascinating method.
