Page 211 - Talane Miedaner - Coach Yourself to a New Career_ 7 Steps to Reinventing Your Professional Life (2010)

BONUS TIPS FOR CAREER SUCCESS 199

always use a side or back door? If the latter is the case, this habit
may mirror how you are always being overlooked for promotions or
jobs. Try using your front door for a change. One of my clients did
this and discovered that he couldn’t open the front door from the
outside without grazing a knuckle—it had the wrong sort of knob.
No wonder “doors of opportunity” weren’t opening easily for him at
work. He changed his door handle and a few days later was invited
to host his own radio show—something he had always dreamed of
doing but didn’t know how to make happen.
→ Make sure your front entrance reflects authority as well
as being welcoming and tidy. Remove any obstacles to the
entryway. Verify that the front door opens and closes easily without
obstruction and that it doesn’t stick. Check that the doorbell works
and there is plenty of light. If you have a double front door, take
care not to block one of the doors with a potted plant or statue, or
you’ll be blocking half your chi (good energy).
→ Use symbols and figurines if you feel you need protection
from toxic colleagues or bosses. Add a pair of concrete figurines
of dogs or lions symbolically guarding the front door of your home,
and paint the door red (red is the color of protection). These feng
shui cures for the home can serve to protect you at work as well, as
it may be neither possible nor practical to deploy two concrete lions
to guard your cubicle entrance!
→ Add a water element. Hang a mirror somewhere in the front
entryway. Mirrors represent water, and water is helpful for career
success. This is why you typically see an aquarium with fish when
you enter a Chinese restaurant. Glass, water, and the movement
of the fish all promote positive energy. A glass vase of water with
some flowers also works, or even silk flowers with plastic water as
representation of a water element.
→ Be careful what pictures or paintings you hang at your home’s
entrance. The images you display should represent what you
want, not what you don’t want. I had a client who was married
and lived in a beautiful apartment in Amsterdam. Hanging to the
immediate left of their apartment door was a shocking Salvador
Dalí print depicting a tiger about to devour a naked woman. The