Put Your Dreams to Work is a testament to the power of having a dream, visualizing it, and manifesting it. Annabel Chotzen, international speaker, corporate trainer, and business consultant, shares in these pages her fascinating personal stories and those of friends and family whom she has seen firsthand make her dreams come true. Even better, she shares the strategies they used to achieve it.

Annabel draws her reader in from the first pages by telling the dramatic story of a young Jew in Nazi Germany named Walter who had a dream of coming to America. In Walter’s story and many others, the power of visualization is revealed. Walter escaped Nazi Germany by imagining how he would behave when he arrived at the border and how positive his interaction with the border guard would be.

Other stories focus on the power of taking action. For example, Annabel, her parents, and her siblings used to live in the Seattle area, but one day they took a trip to Hawaii. Annabel shares what her father told her during that trip:

“‘Annabelli (that’s what she called me), I have a dream of living in Hawaii.’ I had seen so many elderly tourists who could barely walk and seemed to have finally arrived in Hawaii for a short visit. I was weak or too late. I said, ‘Dad, do it. It’s now!'”

With those words, Annabel’s father was inspired to move to Hawaii, and a few months later, the family did. Now Annabel has enjoyed decades of living in Hawaii and swimming in its warm ocean. Repeatedly throughout the book, she talks about how her parents’ efforts to make her dreams come true have benefited her, and then she shares stories of how her dreams benefited her husband and son.

Put Your Dreams to Work is divided into twenty-five short chapters on various strategies to help you manifest your own dreams. Chapter titles include: Discovering the Real You, Overcoming Fear, The Importance of a Support Group in Achieving Your Dreams, and Enjoying the Dreams You’re Living Today. Plus, each chapter ends with Thought Questions to help you gain a clearer understanding of what you want and what you can do to make that want your new reality.

Beyond its inspirational message, one thing that makes Put Your Dreams to Work stand out is Annabel’s wonderful sense of humor. For example, in her chapter on how to get along with people, she writes:

“If the person is right, you can say, ‘You’re right, you’re absolutely right. I agree with you’. People love it if you tell them you agree with them; it helps them feel better. I rarely get angry, but once in a while, if I am, my husband may say, “I agree with you,” and that immediately calms me down. So I tell him: ‘That’s not fair, you attended my workshops'”.

I also love how Annabel isn’t afraid to laugh at herself or share her weaknesses that led her on her journey to greater understanding to make her dreams come true. An example of how she shares her own shortcomings is associated with one of the best tips she gives in the book: how to follow the platinum rule:

“Most people treat others the way they would like to be treated. The problem is that many people don’t always like how they are treated. The way you want to be treated may differ from how they want others to treat them, and when people feel mistreated, they get angry and disappointed.

“When I first got married, on a special occasion, like my husband’s birthday, I would give him flowers because I loved flowers. One day, he said to me, ‘Honey, thanks for the flowers, but they don’t really do that much. form.’ I asked him: ‘What do you want?’ He said, ‘A shirt.’ So I bought him a bright red shirt, because I loved red. I quickly found out he didn’t like red, he liked blue. I had practiced the golden rule throughout this process, but it had not worked as I intended.

“There’s a better rule for getting along with other people. It’s called the Platinum Rule: ‘Do with others what they want.'”

Dreams really can be put to work, and there is much in this book that will surprise you, as Annabel provides the evidence to prove it. Some of those surprising moments come when she weaves Hawaiian culture into the book. For example, she tells a story about King Kamehameha the Great and how he was able to achieve what no one thought possible. She also shares the magic of the kukui nut and even has a story on the TV show Magnum P.I.

One of my favorite stories was when Annabel learned to use joy as her compass in the most unlikely of situations: when she was diagnosed with cancer. Instead of letting cancer get her down, she joined a support group where she met the most amazing people who decided they were going to chase her dreams now instead of waiting. One of them, Amazing Mazie, decided, at the age of eighty-two, that she wanted to jump out of a plane. She told the group that she had heard of many people who had near-death experiences, but that she wanted to have a “near-life experience.”

Too often we let fear get in the way of following our dreams. Too often, we fear change, even when it may be positive for us. Isn’t it time to put aside our fears and have a “close to life experience”? As you read Put Your Dreams to Work and apply what you learn, I have no doubt that you may experience a life-changing dream manifestation. As Annabel told her father: “Do it now!”