BIG thanks go to:

Ann Espo at One Bag Nation shared practical ideas to give everything a place.

Vicky White at Life Design Strategies wrote how to Position Your Desk for Power.

Karen Henderson of Get Organized & More shared Feng Shui Tips that Energize Your Office.

Coach Alison Marks of Inside Out Design Coaching asked Is Your Workspace Working Against You?

Brandie Kajino, The Home Office Organizer wrote that Organization is a State of Mind.

Coach Maggie McCauley of A New View wrote about Filing with Ease.

Happy Monday!

Post from: My Organized Biz

Post by Alison Marks

Most likely, there are ways that your work environment makes you have to work harder than you need to. Try these ideas to turn your work space into a powerful tool to support you and your productivity:

Fresh Eyes. Come in from outside with “fresh eyes,” as though you were visiting for the first time. What do you notice? How do you feel? What can you tell about the person or people who work here?

Declutter. The #1 most powerful tool for creating a supportive space! Give your eye fewer things to look at. This brings clarity, helping you to really appreciate and utilize what’s there.

Yin/Yang Balance. Yang is active and energetic – bright colors, movement, electronics, loud music or noises. Yin is soft, calming and restful – pastels, soft light, textiles. Give yourself enough yang to keep you motivated, enough yin to feel nurtured.

5 Senses. There’s no reason not to bring pleasure to work. What delights your senses? Sometimes one small change can make a huge difference. Some ideas to try: use aromatherapy, add a soft rug, bring in a fountain, or play soft music.

Making some of the changes suggested here will bring satisfaction and flow into your day. Good luck!

Alison Marks helps busy women create sanctuaries in their homes and peace of mind in their workplaces. She is a San Francisco-based design coach, Certified Feng Shui Consultant and professional organizer. For more information and articles, visit her at InsideOutDesignCoaching.com.

In what ways does your work space support you and not? What’s one small (or large) change you will make?

Post from: My Organized Biz

Post by Karen Henderson

When you first step into your office, how does it feel? How do you feel while working there?
An office where energy is balanced and flowing smoothly helps you feel healthy, inspired and productive.

Used for thousands of years, Feng Shui (pronounced fung shway) is the Chinese art of placement of objects for balanced flow of chi (energy).

Energize a dull-feeling office by adding plants, flowers, movement such as a slow moving ceiling fan or desktop fountain, bold colors or beautiful art objects.

When there is too much chi, causing confusion and lack of concentration, clean up clutter, get rid of things that do not work or are distracting or displeasing to you. I don’t mean co-workers! Change harsh light to indirect, focused lamps.

The most favorable placement for your desk is diagonal to the entrance with a wall behind you. When people and things can’t “sneak up on you”, you feel secure in your position, allowing you to relax and concentrate.

Favorable:

• balance of black and white
• round objects
• water or pictures of water/falls
• plants with thick, round leaves, such as jade

Unfavorable:

• dirt and dust
• squares
• dark art or colors

Helpful practices to maintain balanced chi:

• Remove dead flowers and plant leaves, non-working pens, tools and equipment, chipped mugs
• Soften sharp corners with tall or viney plants
• At the end of each day, tidy your desk and office so it looks (and you’ll feel!) fresh and ready for work when you arrive the next day.

Balance the energy flow in your office and feel increased energy in yourself!

Karen Henderson is a Clutter Consultant, serving folks by organizing through her business, Get Organized & More, in Salem, Oregon. “Clutter to Clarity” is her motto and she specializes in kitchens, beach houses, art studios & downsizing.

Do you use feng shui concepts in your office? What works for you?

Post from: My Organized Biz

Have inspiring images on your walls.

A vision board is ideal, with images and words reflecting what you’d like to bring into your work. The pictures on your walls need to inspire you. Check out the ones you have now – what do they represent?

One of my clients, a coach, had an image of the evil step-mother from Snow White on her wall. At some point she had taken a liking to this and now it was in the relationship area of her office. Not exactly what she’d been asking to attract!

What’s on your walls?

Post from: My Organized Biz

Vicky works with women in creative businesses to help them boost their bottom line – and even if you’re of the male persuasion, you’ll find some great info below.

Jen: Welcome, Vicky! I’ve heard that feng shui is the study of how energy moves through a space. Is that right? What does that mean, exactly?

Vicky: I describe Feng Shui as the art of arranging your environment to enhance your life.

For me, it’s way more than that too. Feng Shui literally means ‘wind and water’. Wind represents the unseen forces – within us and outside of us, and water represents the seen forces.

The Feng Shui I’ve gravitated to I call Inner Feng Shui because it addresses energy flow in your environment and also the energy flow within you. It’s all about aligning your inner and outer which includes your physical environment, your intentions, your passions, the food you eat, the actions you take and your strengths, and this all adds up to support you in attracting what you want. Feng Shui is a powerful tool for transformation – in any area of your life.

Jen: We’re focusing on spring cleaning this month at MyOrganizedBiz.com, so I’m curious about what happens to energy flow when things are out of place? Or dusty?

Vicky: There are a number of challenges common to most environments. And this includes furniture placement. Because you’re a refection of your environment, it’s important that the energy flows freely as this affects all aspects of your life – your creativity, your relationships, your prosperity, your ability to learn your life lessons, your health, and so on.

Imagine energy coming into your office space. It enters the room, bringing fresh, inspiring energy and it comes across a pile of papers or runs smack into a piece of furniture – and it gets bogged down and certainly slowed down. And then because you absorb the energy in your environment, the same happens with your own energy.

Energy needs space to flow freely. Dust, clutter, poorly placed furniture will slow it down.

And, by clutter I mean: anything unfinished, unused, unresolved, tolerated or disorganized. So it covers quite a bit.

Jen: Wow. That is a lot – and I can see why it’s so important to deal with clutter from that perspective.

Are there feng shui principles that address how income and clutter are related?

Vicky: Great question. Money IS energy. Prosperity is energy. The prosperity of your business is directly affected by the flow of energy in your environment. If you’ve ever had a cluttered desk and felt stressed with a whole lot of things weighing you down, you’ll know it’s not possible to be creative or inspired or even to think clearly. This directly impacts your prosperity.

Take a break, clear your desk and the energy will starts flowing again.

Jen: So, will you give us some advice? What step(s) would you recommend that readers take in their own workspaces?

Vicky: There are several general principles you can start with.

Position your desk in the power position. This is where your desk is as far from the door as possible, and with a view of the door from where you sit. Hopefully you have a solid wall behind you also. Being in the power position means nothing (symbolically or for real) can sneak up behind you and take you unawares. Next best thing if your desk is attached to the wall, is to position a small mirror so if someone came to your office door you’d catch the movement out of the corner of your eye. Just think, they may not know anything about Feng Shui, but you’d never find a CEO sitting with their back to the door.

Declutter (of course). Your office needs to be inspiring and to reflect where you’re going, not where you’ve been. Anything not related to your business, or related to a past business should be out of there. Anything broken needs to be removed. One of my clients had a broken clock – she removed it and immediately attracted new clients. Another client spent a whole Saturday decluttering her office – everything got the once over – and within 24 hours she had attracted six new clients. She’s a raving fan for decluttering now.

Make space for new clients – The easiest way to do this is to declutter your filing cabinet. Be ruthless. Create an empty file folder – or 5 – for the clients you’d like to attract. If your file cabinet is full of old energy, with no space for the new, you’re sending the Universe mixed messages about what you’d like.

Jen: These suggestions really fit in with this month’s theme. Do you have any other ideas for us?

Vicky: The most important thing in Feng Shui is to declutter. Your office is divided into 9 different areas, each representing part of your life and business. Your Wealth and Prosperity area is in the far left hand corner of your office when you stand at the door looking in.

What do you have there? All areas are connected but when you know that pile of old papers or that cluttered filing cabinet is in your Wealth & Prosperity area for example, it gives you an incentive to clear it out.

I have a mantra: 20 minutes is my friend. Start with just 20 minutes a day, every day. Choose a defined area to declutter each time – perhaps one drawer, perhaps the top of your desk, perhaps one bookshelf or half of a bookshelf. That way you’ll feel the difference – as opposed to doing a bit here and a bit there.

Declutter first – then add a symbol of prosperity. You do need to get the energy flowing well first. Then it’s time to add a symbol to your Wealth and Prosperity area. This can be anything that represents abundance to you. Money, an image of your future boat, a sunset – something personal to you. You can check to see where the different areas of the Bagua are located here.

Jen: Cool – a freebie! Thanks for that tip!

Vicky: Use these tips to give your workspace an energy shake up and you’ll feel the difference immediately. Create a workspace that inspires and supports your success, and your creativity will be greatly enhanced – and that in turn will boost the prosperity of your business.

Jen: Thank you so much – this is terrific information. Now I’m jazzed to work on my Wealth and Prosperity Area!

Post from: My Organized Biz