If this sounds familiar, and you know that your productivity is suffering, maybe you want to try a little feng shui in your workspace.

Feng shui (pronounced "fung schway") is ancient art of placement and design that balances and enhances energy flow in an environment. This can be placement of a home on a piece of property, location of an office building on a city block, orientation of rooms in a house, arrangement of furniture in a room or objects on a desk.

For a complete feng shui evaluation, you need to consult with a professional. It's far too complex to address completely in an article. I'll just give you a few examples of techniques you can try so you can see if feng shui is for you.

In any situation, there will obviously be believers and non-believers, and this is true of co-workers as well as spouses. To effect change in corporate environment or at home, you have to start with yourself, and realistically this may be all you can accomplish.

At center of this belief system is a powerful reality that you need to be able to embrace: There is an energy flow that BRINGS abundance to all of life. Using feng shui to attract things to you means removing blockages and enhancing this natural flow. This doesn't mean you only need to move furniture around and then sit back and wait for money to arrive; it removes suffering and struggle and leaves you working from a place of peace at center of your being.

Clutter is stagnant energy that leaves no room for growth. The tendency to save things because "someday you might need them" indicates a lack of belief in energy flow that brings abundance to you. Your message to universe is that you don't trust that it will provide for you. The flow stops.

This energy flow, called ch'i ("chee"), enters through front door of any building or room and is then dispersed. It also enters through windows. It exits through doors and windows too. During day, it enters through windows, at night it exits, hence a reason to close curtains. Think of it as air or water flow; it's like that.

If you want more opportunity in your work environment, make sure path to door is as wide as door. This goes for paths, hallways and outer rooms. The easiest way to attract ch'i is to get rid of clutter; no toys scattered on paths to house, no shoes strewn in middle of hallway or piles of boxes between world and your desk.

Each person is born ethnocentric, or believing that other people and events revolve around them which is generally true for first few years of a child's life. The focus of activity for a growing child is inward. Some people carry this inward, self-focus into adulthood. These people, so overly concerned with their own well being in a self-centered way, never learn secrets of influence. Successful people, who want to have power of persuasion, turn their circle of activity and interest outward. They expand their centers to be as conscious of world around them as they are of themselves. They develop what we call, charisma.

Charisma means you have learned to:

1. Act with credibility. Those who are inconsistent in their behavior repel people while those who are consistent in their behavior draw people to them. To be influential, have integrity. Speak up for what you believe, then act accordingly.

Gerry Spence, one of America's greatest trial lawyers, said, "One can stand as greatest orator world has known, possess quickest mind, employ cleverest psychology, and have mastered all technical devices of argument, but if one is not credible one might just as well preach to pelicans."

2. Be interested. Be truly interested in other person. Treat him or her as most important person you'll interact with that day - a VIP, Very Important Person. Smile at them, not just for a brief, dutiful second, but for a magical two or three seconds.

When you smile, lean toward person a little, and think in your mind, "I like you. You are a great individual. I want to get to know you better." You'll be amazed at connection and trust that will occur.