Transform Your Space with a Feng Shui Office Layout to Increase Efficiency
Feng shui at work desk setups can dramatically transform how you feel and perform throughout your workday. Picture this: you arrive at your desk each morning feeling energised rather than drained. Your workspace welcomes you with positive energy, your mind feels clear, and opportunities seem to flow your way naturally. This isn’t just wishful thinking – it’s what happens when you apply feng shui principles to your office space.
Feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of harmonising energy flow in physical spaces, can transform your ordinary office desk into a catalyst for career success. Whether you’re working from a corporate office, a home workspace, or a co-working environment as a remote worker, these practical office feng shui tips will help you create an office desk setup that attracts prosperity, enhances focus, and supports your professional goals.
The way your office desk faces and how you arrange items to symbolise stability can significantly impact your work experience. Since we spend approximately 5.8 to 6.3 hours per day at our desks, the feng shui of our office layout can carry more weight than you might think.
Here are our top 10 feng shui tips for your work desk:
- Position your desk in the command position for confidence and control.
- Keep your workspace clutter-free to allow energy to flow freely.
- Balance the left side (Green Dragon) and right (White Tiger) sides of your desk.
- Add living plants to invite growth and fresh energy.
- Ensure solid support behind your desk chair for stability.
- Avoid sitting directly under overhead beams.
- Use the bagua map to optimise desk zones.
- Incorporate the five elements for balance.
- Choose uplifting colours and meaningful artwork.
- Maintain clear desk space for mental clarity.
What is Feng Shui and Why Does It Matter at Your Desk?
Understanding the Ancient Art of Energy Flow
Feng shui is an ancient practice that considers the arrangement of physical objects and their energy flows. The word ‘feng’ literally translates to wind, and ‘shui’ means water – both natural energy forces that create vitality, harmony, and balance. According to feng shui, everything around us, including ourselves, consists of energy. The Chinese call this vital energy ‘chi’ or ‘qi’.
Since the average office worker spends approximately 5.8 to 6.3 hours per day sitting at their desk, the feng shui office layout holds more power than you might think. The overall idea is that, depending on where objects are placed around your work environment, certain energies are created that affect your surroundings. When implemented correctly, good feng shui can help create positive energy and ultimately increase productivity.
Whilst scientific findings proving the effectiveness of feng shui remain limited, research backs up the suggestion that getting a more organised workspace can improve overall health and well-being. Feng shui serves as both a practical organisational system and a psychological component that creates visual reminders of what we value in our professional lives.
As Laura Cerrano of Feng Shui Manhattan states, her practice is dedicated to benefits that extend to clients’ overall well-being physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
Ready to Create Your Ideal Feng Shui Workspace?
Starting fresh with a well-designed office space makes it effortless to implement feng shui principles. Explore our office spaces in Sydney, thoughtfully designed to support productivity from day one. Call us today – (02) 9381 9100
The Foundation: Understanding Key Principles of Feng Shui
Essential Concepts Before You Begin
The concept of chi is central to feng shui practice. If a space is cluttered with too many ‘wrong or unnecessary’ objects, the flow of this vital energy tends to get restricted. Over time, this space can begin to feel congested, tedious, and uninspired, making everyone who spends time there feel pretty much the same.
Stagnant energy from clutter, poor positioning, and imbalanced elements can restrict energy flow, making spaces feel heavy and unmotivating.
There are three main benefits of optimising feng shui in your office:
- Building a Unique Workspace Identity – By following feng shui principles, you’ll inevitably create an impeccable and clutter-free work environment that looks incredibly elegant and aesthetically pleasing. This kind of environment helps you build a strong personal energy field that reflects your professional image.
- Increasing Productivity Levels – Good feng shui boosts productivity by creating a truly comfortable and nurturing atmosphere. When people spend time in a healthy, uplifting, joyful work environment, they tend to become naturally creative and don’t mind going that extra mile to achieve their goals.
- Protection from Negative Influences – Feng shui is capable of protecting your business and yourself from being impacted by negative forces. It’s believed that if you maintain the positive energy flow in your office space, there’s very little chance that accidents or misfortunes will bother you.
Understanding the Five Elements
All feng shui practices are essentially aimed at creating a delicate balance between the five elements of nature to attract health, abundance, growth, and creativity:
- Water element – Associated with wisdom, profundity, and relationships. It’s linked with emotions and inspiration.
- Earth element – Affects your physical strength, stability, and balance. The earth element represents stability and grounding.
- Wood element – Associated with creativity, growth, flexibility, and intuition. This element helps represent growth in your career.
- Fire element – The element of passion, enthusiasm, expansion, and transformation.
- Metal element – Affects how clearly you perceive things and how logically you handle different situations.
Top 10 Feng Shui Tips for Your Work Desk
1. Position Your Desk in the Command Position
According to feng shui, desk placement is one of the most important aspects of creating positive chi in your workspace. The placement of your desk in your work environment is beneficial to your productivity levels. You should position your desk so that you’re facing the door with a solid wall behind you. This is known as the “command position” or “power position” in feng shui office layout.
Think of it like a security guard on duty at a concert. Their backs are faced towards the stage, and they face the audience, watching for any intruders or misconduct. Their job is to eliminate any danger before it’s too late. Now consider if the security officer had their back towards the audience – they’d immediately put themselves in a vulnerable position and be caught off guard should anything occur.
This same principle applies to your desk orientation. Structuring your desk in this power position ensures you’re not disturbed when clients or colleagues walk into the room, and it offers protection and empowerment. However, your desk directly in front of the door should be avoided because this places you in the path of ‘sha’, also known as bad chi – negative, draining, stagnant energy.
If you cannot change where your desk faces or position your desk in the ideal command position, place a small office mirror on your desk to reflect the office entrance. This helps you maintain awareness of your surroundings and promotes positive energy flow.
2. De-clutter Regularly and Keep 50% of Your Desk Clear
It’s often said that your desk is the best reflection of yourself, and a cluttered mess on your desk creates a cluttered mind. A clutter-free workspace doesn’t just affect your focus – it can also block your career progress. Keeping your workspace tidy improves efficiency and helps attract prosperity. Spend each morning and evening de-cluttering your desk to ensure a stress-free environment.
Here are practical steps to maintain an organised desk:
- Organise Your Documents – Use colour-coded folders and clear labels to sort documents by category, such as “To-do,” “Completed,” or “Pending Approval” for easy access at a glance. Place them on the left side of your desk (known as the Green Dragon side) to promote mental clarity and smooth progress.
- Use a Pen Holder – Scattered stationery creates visual clutter and disrupts energy flow. Opt for a minimalist pen holder or organiser to store everyday items neatly, and place it on the right side of your desk (White Tiger side) to encourage tidy relationships and smoother collaboration.
- Tidy Up Your Cables – Tangled cables can block positive energy flow and create visual chaos. Use cable clips, organisers, or storage boxes to keep wires aligned along the edges of your desk.
- Install a Pegboard – Maximise vertical space by adding a pegboard to your workstation. Hang daily essentials or reminder cards to combine function and inspiration.
- De-clutter Regularly – Old files, broken stationery, and unused trinkets all generate stagnant energy that can hold you back. At least 50% of your desk surface should remain clear at all times to allow creative energy to flow and help your workday move more smoothly.
3. Balance the Green Dragon and White Tiger Sides
According to feng shui, the left-right energy principle is essential for harmonious flow in your co-working space. The left side of your desk is the Green Dragon side, associated with movement and action. This side represents dynamic energy, so place active items like your computer, phone, pen holder, or file folders on the left side.
The right side is the White Tiger side, which should be calmer – ideal for placing items like a calendar, water bottle, or notebook. This “Dragon Strong, Tiger Calm” setup helps stabilise your energy, strengthens your focus, and promotes harmonious collaboration with colleagues. Placing documents on the left promotes mental clarity and smooth progress, whilst the right side encourages tidy relationships and helps you stay focused.
4. Add Green Plants for Growth and Prosperity
Small, round-leaf green plants like the money plant, pothos, or lucky bamboo bring freshness and symbolise growth and wealth. These natural elements improve air quality, reduce stress, and lift your mood. Adding small potted plants to your desk is a simple way to bring positive energy into your workspace.
Avoid thorny plants such as cacti, as they may introduce sharp or conflicting energy. As feng shui principles suggest, cacti do not promote the flow of positive chi because they are sharp and pointed plants. Place plants in the front-left corner of your desk, specifically the top left corner, to align with the Green Dragon direction and invite prosperous energy. This placement also helps enhance prosperity in your wealth corner.
Plants also serve as natural barriers if your desk faces a doorway directly, helping to buffer the energy flow and maintain focus.
Balance Your Work-Life Energy with Flexible Solutions
Whether you need a command position setup or a space that aligns with your feng shui needs, our dedicated desks and virtual offices provide the perfect foundation. Give us a call now – (02) 9381 9100
5. Ensure Solid Support Behind Your Comfortable Chair
A seat with an empty space behind it symbolises a lack of support, which can lead to feelings of isolation or missed opportunities for help from colleagues and supervisors. According to feng shui, ideally, your desk chair should be backed by a solid wall. This represents stability and provides a strong foundation for your work.
If positioning your chair against a solid wall isn’t possible, you can create symbolic support by placing a high-back cushion on your chair or draping a dark jacket over the back – symbolically creating a “backer” to enhance security and support. You might also hang a picture of a landscape on the wall behind you. This will give you the supportive chi you need to be more productive and successful at work, whilst also enhancing your physical well-being.
This “backer” arrangement enhances security, confidence, and the feeling of having helpful people in your corner at work.
6. Avoid Sitting Directly Under Overhead Beams
Sitting directly under an overhead beam creates what’s called “beam pressure” in feng shui – a feeling of oppression that can affect both physical well-being and decision-making clarity. This oppressive energy weighs down on you and can impact your work efficiency throughout the day.
If you cannot move your seat, neutralise this effect by placing a gourd or crystal ball on your desk, or shift your position so you’re not sitting directly under the overhead beam. You might also consider using a room divider or adjusting your desk diagonally to minimise the impact.
This principle extends to other oppressive elements as well. Ensure adequate natural light by reducing the use of blinds or curtains, or install skylights if possible. If natural light is limited, use artificial lights in warm yellow colour tones to brighten up dark corners. Maintain proper air flow by keeping doors and windows open when possible, and position your desk away from sharp corners or edges pointing at your seat.
7. Use the Bagua Map to Optimise Your Desk Zones
One of the basic tools for a feng shui practitioner is the bagua map. This nine-part grid depicts the different areas of a space and shows how they correspond to different areas in life. In order to let the energy flow optimally, you can apply this ancient wisdom to your desk.
To use the bagua map effectively, print it out and overlay it on your desk, then focus on 2-3 areas most important to you. Here are some specific examples:
- Top-left corner (Abundance and Prosperity) – Element: Wood, Colour: Green and purple accents. Place items associated with bringing money into your business here, such as a green plant (wood element) or purple flowers (fire element accent for energy and transformation). While purple can enhance the wealth zone aesthetically, it represents fire energy (the yin expression of fire when combined with blue), not wood energy.
- Middle-left (Family Zone) – Element: Wood, Colour: Green (or black and blue). Perfect for a family photo in a wooden frame.
- Top-centre (Fame and Reputation) – Add red accents or awards to enhance your professional reputation.
- Centre (Health) – Keep this area clear and clean to maintain physical and mental well-being.
- Bottom-right (Helpful People) – Place business cards or photos of mentors to attract support.
Remember that priorities shift over time, so reassess periodically based on your current career circumstances.
8. Incorporate All Five Elements for Balance
To bring positive energy and create harmony, incorporate all five elements of feng shui onto your desk:
- Water element (wisdom, emotions) – Add a small water fountain, fish bowl, or images of water. Water symbolises flow and adaptability.
- Earth element (stability, balance) – Include crystals, stones, or items in earth tones like ochre and brown. The earth element represents stability and grounding.
- Wood element (creativity, growth) – Use plants, a wooden pen holder, or green accents. These items represent growth and expansion.
- Fire element (passion, transformation) – Add candles, incandescent lights, or red items to spark enthusiasm.
- Metal element (clarity, logic) – Place metal desk accessories in gold, silver, or white colours to improve analytical abilities.
Be mindful of balance. Too much of any element creates negative effects – excess water makes you feel overwhelmed emotionally, whilst excess metal makes you overly critical. Adjust elements based on your business needs and current circumstances to promote positive energy flow throughout your work environment.
9. Choose Uplifting Colours, Computer Wallpaper, and Artwork
Visual elements around your desk significantly impact your energy. Set your computer wallpaper or decorate the wall in front of your desk with calming, expansive imagery like sunrise landscapes, open roads, or lush greenery. These symbols suggest clarity, smooth progress, and a broad career outlook. Avoid dark, heavy, or overly complex images, which may weigh down the energy and affect your ability to stay focused.
Personalise your space with motivational quotes, affirmations, or pictures of role models that inspire you. According to feng shui, you should include items that have personal meaning – these promote positive feelings and therefore promote positive chi.
Connect colours to the five elements:
- Water: blue, navy, and black
- Earth: earth tones like ochre, browns, and darker shades of orange
- Wood: green and lighter shades of brown, like tan
- Fire: red in a variety of shades
- Metal: colours like gold, silver, white, and grey
10. Remove Sharp Objects and Create Smooth Energy Flow
Store all sharp objects in desk drawers – scissors, envelope knives, staple removers, sharpened pencils – anything pointed that prohibits smooth chi flow. Eliminate or store these items from your desk to ensure the flow of positive energy, as any sharp objects block this natural flow.
Replace angular desk accessories with rounded alternatives where possible. A rectangular desk is acceptable, but avoid excessive sharp edges and corners. Consider adding a desk mat with rounded corners to soften the energy of your work surface.
Address cable management comprehensively, as tangled wires block energy and create visual chaos. Use cable organisers to keep them aligned along desk edges. Revamping your workspace promotes harmonious flow.
Consider adding a desk diffuser with essential oils in calming scents to enhance the atmosphere. A mini desk vacuum helps with quick clean-ups, maintaining the clutter-free environment necessary for good feng shui. The goal is to create smooth, unobstructed pathways for positive energy flow to circulate freely around your workspace.
Host Meetings in Spaces Designed for Success
When you need to collaborate with clients or team members, our meeting rooms and corporate venue hire provide the perfect feng shui-friendly setting where positive chi flows naturally and deals close smoothly. Contact us today – (02) 9381 9100
Transform Your Work Desk with Feng Shui for Better Clarity!
The ancient art of feng shui isn’t about perfection – it’s about intention and progress. Even implementing 3-4 of these key principles can create noticeable shifts in how you feel and perform at work. Start with the easiest changes: de-cluttering your desk, adding a money plant or lucky bamboo, or repositioning one item to align with feng shui office principles. These strategic placement decisions can profoundly impact your daily experience.
Since we spend the majority of our waking hours at our desks, investing time in optimising this space pays dividends in productivity, mental clarity, and career advancement. Whether you’re working with a glass desk or a traditional rectangular desk, these timeless principles adapt to any office space.
Choose one tip to implement today and notice how your workspace begins to feel different. At Workit Spaces, we understand the importance of energised, balanced work environments that support success and help you achieve your career goals.
