Can you believe that this year is nearly over? Where did it go?! It might still feel like you’re rushing towards the finishing line for 2013, but I wanted to give you some ideas on ways that you can start 2014 off with a bang!

Here are my fun ways for getting organised to make 2014 your best year yet:

• Write down the crazy big goals you’d like to achieve in the next year. They can be business or personal. Use coloured pens and make it look fun to look at. You could draw little pictures next to them too.

• Buy a big desk calendar and add some monthly goals to it that will get you closer to your big goals. Make deadlines for the big goals you identified. Having goals on a calendar helps to make you accountable and can keep you on track. You could colour code your goals and deadlines for personal, business, skills or travel. Pick the colours that make you happy to look at.

• Sketch up how you would like your workspace to look and think about what you could add (or remove) to make it flow better and help you be more efficient. Whether it's a whole room or just your desk, it is so much nicer to work with when everything has a place and you don’t constantly feel buried under mess or can’t find anything.

• Make a mood board or a Pinterest board for your workspace or desk and treat yourself to something that will help make it a happier place to be. It might adding artwork, or some new in-trays, or hoisting up a peg board or some shelves so you have somewhere to hang all your equipment leaving your desk top free.

• Read a book on a topic you’re interested in. It might not seem like an organisational tool, but it might just uncover another goal for the year, or help you learn something that relates to one of your goals. If your goal is to hike in South America, then a book on how to prepare for hiking in those climates could be perfect!

• Get outdoors and have some fun. What does this have to do with getting organised? It helps you to relax and have time to think about what you do and don’t want for the year ahead. It’s hard to get organised and be excited when you’re feeling frazzled, so allow yourself some downtime before you jump on in to the next year.

• If you’re feeling particularly crafty, you can make a vision board with images that represent your goals for 2014 and put it up somewhere to remind you what you’re working towards. Grab some cardboard and some old magazines and have fun organising and gluing your vision for 2014.

The beginning of a new year (and the end of a busy one) is the perfect time to work out what we’d like our future to look like and make some baby steps that will set us on the path towards it. Some goals will be longer term, but it can be fun to think of the things we can start now to get us there.

Have a wonderful and safe Christmas and New Year!

Dannielle is a blogger, serial organiser and passionate traveller. She has a secret love of ’90s teen movies and can often be found on Twitter. In 2013, Dannielle packed up her life in Melbourne into one suitcase and moved to Canada to make her crazy dream of a more adventurous life happen. But she quickly found the inspiration she was searching for was in Melbourne and has returned home. She’s started a new project on creating a happy (organised) home which you can see here.