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Office Feng Shui Tips To Maximize Your Productivity & Creativity
If your home is a mirror of your life, your office space is a mirror of your work, career, and oftentimes your wealth. Therefore, office design is incredibly important. Feng shui can help us make choices about how to personalize our workspaces, whether they're at home or in a shared office. Here are my top tips for increasing the feng shui in your office, one step at a time:
1. Assess the space.
When you’re setting up your room (or cubicle), you'll want to first look at its layout. Is there an even distribution of furniture on both sides of the room? Is there art only on one wall, or is it sprinkled throughout the space? Is it too bright? Is it too minimalist? How balanced and even do you feel in your workspace? Where and how do things feel off? Start with your own assessment of what you love and what needs to change. From there, the feng shui tweaks can follow.
2. Clear clutter.
Get rid of the nonessentials in every cranny—this includes those drawers you rarely open. Clutter (even the clutter that's hidden away) keeps your work feeling stuck. This includes digital clutter and scheduling clutter, too! You may want to try to spend time every day looking over your schedule and visualizing what’s to come, clearing away or canceling anything that’s unnecessary, and preparing for the day to flow more smoothly.
3. Craft a more inviting desk space.
Your desk is your home base. First, you'll want to look at the material it's made out of.
Look for these materials:
Glass desks aren’t that stable, so I'll often have clients cover them in fabric or a desk pad to create a more solid workspace. Wooden desks are very creative but may be too unfocused. In feng shui, the wood element carries a more wild, chatty, creative energy, which can get a little frenetic for an office space. You can rein in your focus with a sparkly crystal on your desktop (spirit quartz and shimmering pyrite are my top picks) and/or some metallic desk accessories that have more organized, uniform energy.
Metal desks are great for focus, but they may be cold. Warm them up with a houseplant (more on those later!) or wooden fruit bowl.
Position it this way:
Feng shui philosophy tells us to position the desk so that you are in command of the room. Essentially, this means your back shouldn't be facing the door. Beyond the biological aspect of feeling less innately safe with our back to the door, there’s a lot of feng shui lore about this position allowing for things to happen at work "behind your back."
Ideally, you'll be able to position your desk so you have a clear view of the door (and anyone who is approaching) when you're sitting down. But if you can’t move your desk to command the room, you can place a mirror on your desk so you can see what’s behind you.
Speaking of backs, sitting with a solid wall behind you—or a very solid chair backing—is always great feng shui!
Don't forget about the chair!
Ergonomics matter a lot, especially when you have a desk-based job and spend lots of unavoidable time sitting. You may not be able to get a new chair at the moment, but inexpensive ergonomic cushions can be game-changers too.
4. Check your lighting (especially if you often feel drained at work).
Aim for as much natural light as possible and do your best to take breaks outside, even if they’re very short, to take in natural light and fresh air. And if you have the opportunity to upgrade your light bulbs, take it!
Yellow-tinted and fluorescent lights can make us feel fatigued and dull, and people prone to migraines may find them problematic. Research finds that Compact Fluorescent light bulbs (the twisty ones) may cause skin damage. LED bulbs, the more energy efficient choice, have upsides and downsides as well. They flicker in a hard-to-perceive way that can be disruptive to our eyes and mind, and they contain lots of blue light that can cause eye damage. After a lot of research, I've come to the conclusion that old-school incandescent full-spectrum light bulb may be the best way to go to promote a healthy, harmonious energy. Be sure to shut them off as soon as you leave a room to save energy.
5. Experiment with feel-good colors and artwork.
Fresh pops of your favorite colors will always be more meaningful than a "symbolic" color that you don’t like, especially in a small workspace. Energetically bright art is also spectacular. If you lack a window in your space, you can use landscape art to create one. Anything that makes you feel deeply energized and inspired will do!
6. Set aside sacred space.
Crafting some sort of meditative space—be it your desk chair, a floor cushion, a sofa, or a beanbag—is always worth it. Not only will it encourage you to practice more meditation, but it can remind you to circle back to that calm place during stressful workdays. Your favorite coffee mug, a family photo, or an inspiring book can also do the trick to help you feel more settled and relaxed in your space.
7. Clear the air.
Stagnant air can make us feel stuck, inspired, exhausted, and unmotivated. A small fan, a small desk fountain, or even a fish tank can help counteract stagnation and keep the vibrant flow going.
Adding plants is another great way to clear and freshen the air. Not to mention, plants themselves are an incredible demonstration of creativity and growth. Healthy plants are great feng shui just about anywhere, so just place it somewhere it has a chance to thrive.
The "wealthy" plants in feng shui are not particularly air-cleaning, but they are gorgeous and great for anchoring your intention in a room. Some of the more wealth-symbolic plants are succulents, jade, and "lucky" bamboo. That being said, if a plant, tree, or anything symbolic chosen for "feng shui" reasons doesn’t inspire you, it’s not really worth getting. Let love rule your plant choices.
Actually, let love rule all your choices. Bringing more of your heart to your workdays can be the most innovative and magnetic choice you make. Start by surrounding yourself with much more of what you love—color, art, scent, space, feel, memories, sparkle, nature—and let that inspired energy fuel all that you do.
8. Keep the good vibes going.
A clean workspace promotes a clear mind. At least once a week, make a habit of cleaning your whole desk meticulously. Polish your computer, dust everything, vacuum, and sweep if you can. You get the idea.
Clear, bright energy unlocks more brilliance. If you have a home office, you can do any type of space clearing that appeals to you. Burn sage, Palo Santo, incense, herbs, salt, or all of the above to clear the air and lighten the feeling in your space. Plug-in USB aromatherapy diffusers have brightened many a corporate office I’ve worked on too.
