Too often, we simply imagine our dreams and leave it at that, believing that the visualization of our goals is enough to get us there. This is where many self-help, “manifest your dreams with positive thinking” books fall short—without real action to back up your goals, creative visualization techniques are just not effective.

 What it takes to really make your dreams come true is a holistic, all-angles approach: not only visualizing, but actually doing the work to transform those visualizations into real-life manifestations! Assuming you're a living, breathing, thinking person, you have some dreams you would like to see come true in 2012. Instead of just wishing for success, give yourself a big push in the right direction by taking magically constructive actions to back up your dreams. Here are a few things you can do right now to empower yourself to make 2012 the year for YOU.

• Get informed! Got a goal to write books, but don't know a thing about the publishing industry, for instance? If we want to make our dreams come true, we need to put in the time to really find out what those dreams entail, and what it takes to make them possible. Depending on your goal, you should be able to seek out more information on the internet, at the library, or from organizations or individuals in your area. Seek out as much information as you can and learn as much as possible about what you want to do. Then use this knowledge to take the next steps forward.

• Take irrevocable steps! I'm a big fan of leaping before you look—well, maybe leaping slightly after a brief glance, anyway, but leaping, nonetheless! Taking irrevocable steps toward our goals turns fantasy into reality. For example, if you dream of being an artist but you don't have any work to show, call various art galleries in your area and see if you can schedule a portfolio review. When you land one, you'll have no choice but to put together a killer portfolio in time for the meeting!

• Involve others! The road to success is paved with love and friendship. Get others involved in your goals, and set goals that help others succeed, as well.

With all this action to fuel your dream fires, 2012 is bound to be a new year of new success!