At a towering 6 feet, Olympic swimmer Dara Torres is a breathtaking composition of muscle, proportion and beauty. Yet, she’s no newbie.

Torres became the oldest medalist in swimming history at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. She was 41 and beat all of her youthful records. This summer, she’ll break age barriers again when she dives into the London Olympics at the jaw-dropping age of 45.

But the 12-time medalist’s impressive talents aren’t just confined to the pool. She’s also the best-selling author of two books, Age Is Just a Number: Achieve Your Dreams at Any Stage in Your Life and Gold Medal Fitness: A Revolutionary 5-Week Program, and was the first female athlete featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Most importantly, she’s the mother of 6-year-old Tessa.

Here, three ageless reminders to turn your vision into a reality.

1. Draw inspiration from challenges. Do like Torres and let the hurdles and skeptics motivate your success. “When there’s an obstacle put in my path, I become motivated to get through it and defy the odds,” says Torres.

2. Find a cause that is greater than you. “After the 2008 Olympics, so many women told me I was an inspiration,” says Torres. “I think that’s what keeps me in the pool: continuing to remind people that age really is just a number.”

3. Believe in yourself. What does Torres hope her daughter and fans learn from her staggering success? That age brings experience and confidence. As the champ says: “Age works to my advantage, not my disadvantage.”

Photo: Getty Images

JoAnna Garcia Swisher’s star is rising. Landing the top role in an upcoming comedy pilot, the actress will lead a primetime show once again.

The Florida-born Latina got her first big break in high school when she was cast on Nickelodeon’s “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” Ever since then, she has starred in hit shows, such as “Reba,” “Privileged” and “Gossip Girl.” But it was playing Mia Putney, the lead in the hit comedy “Better With You,” that secured her place as a young comedic actress to watch.

If the 32-year-old’s work accomplishments impress, then her off-camera efforts inspire. Last June, Garcia Swisher teamed up with Merck to launch the Let’s Go There campaign, an initiative to encourage women to talk to their doctors about birth control options. “As the daughter of an OB/GYN, I learned from an early age the importance of educating myself to better understand my health options,” said Garcia Swisher last summer.

To top it off, last Thanksgiving, Garcia Swisher and her husband -- New York Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher -- finally took their overdue honeymoon (they married in December 2010) to Afghanistan. But this wasn’t just an adventurous trip to a rugged country. They were there to cheer on the troops. “I think we had about eight different Thanksgiving meals,” said Garcia Swisher afterward. “We’ve made friends for a lifetime.”

Photo:  Getty Images

We full-on admit to being awestruck by this Latina goddess’s handle on life. When Colombian-born Leila Cobo started at Billboard 12 years ago, she wrote a weekly column, “Las Notas,” and programmed the Latin Music Conference & Awards. She now sits atop the weekly magazine’s food chain as executive editor and TV host for Latin Content & Programming. Her enormous success, though, was never won at the expense of her familia or her passions. Mother of two, Cobo now eagerly awaits publication of her second novela, The Second Time We Met. Here, she reveals what’s behind her amazing balancing act, imploring, “Do not ever get disheartened.”

Solidify goals and deadlines. “I constantly procrastinate, which is why concrete goals and deadlines are crucial. Working at a weekly that prints like clockwork, you have to turn stuff in, one way or another.”

Push your limits. Starting at Billboard, “nothing more was asked than what I was specifically hired to do,” says Cobo. Within months, she was proposing all kinds of Latino-themed stories. Soon, the magazine had a standalone section featuring Latin-themed coverage and charts.

Seek mentors. Cobo is quick to remember the women who nurtured her career and took time to further her development. “They helped me when I was only just starting. I had nothing to give back.”

Follow your heart. “Do what you love; that’s what my father always said, and that success would result,” says Cobo.

Chip away at challenges. Even Cobo is not without her struggles, but she uses them as ammunition to get things done. “My biggest eternal challenge is convincing the mainstream that Latin music, Latin culture and the Latin marketplace are not just important but are part of the mainstream.”

Own your time. “Nights and weekends are my sacred time to write. There can be no one around me.”

Family first. Cobo says that much of her career track revolved around her family’s needs. “I gave up plenty of opportunities because I didn’t want my family to suffer.”

Photo Credit: Claudia Calle

No matter how hard you toil away at work, supervisors rarely suddenly commend your accomplishments and hand over promotions. Rising through the ranks requires action -- candid conversations about career development and clear-cut steps in a chosen direction. Here, Ann Fry, certified coach with New York Women in Communications, helps you lay the groundwork for your next move.

Toot Your Horn
Chances abound in the workplace for you to highlight your skills, passions and results. Abre la boca! “To compete in this job market, use any opportunity possible to brag, in a positive way, about what you can do,” says Fry.

Visualize Your Path
Write a job description that emphasizes new work you’d like, responsibilities you’d like to tackle and projects that tap new expertise you’re building. When you see where you’re going, you can articulate la vision to superiors and seek guidance.

Don’t Be a Diva
No one likes arrogance or entitlement. Says Fry: “Never say you’re wasting your talents or think it’s time to move up just because you’ve been there mucho tiempo. Skip these arrogant-sounding hot buttons: “underutilized,” “understimulated,” “underengaged.”

Social Media Reinforcement
Engage with professional peers on social networks. Spotlight completed assignments, share projects and connect with industry greats. Answer what resumes can’t: What inspires you? One caveat, warns Fry: Handle social media gracefully. “You can’t take back what you say.”

Assess Risks
Si, boldly stating what you want entails risk. But it’s often worth taking, argues Fry. “It’s reasonable to explore job development. We all want to advance.”

An investment banker. A corporate attorney. A venture capitalist. Alicia Morga has been there, done that. Today she is an entrepreneur helping mujeres get their ideas off the ground.

When Alicia Morga realized that advertisers didn’t quite understand the Latino market’s online power, she founded Consorte Media, a digital marketing company that used ciencia instead of hype to match brands with Hispanic-American consumers, in 2005.

“There was a lot of anecdotal evidence, but very little data about what really works,” says Morga. “I was determined to shatter some of the stereotypes about how Latinos ‘should’ be marketed to by collecting real data.”

After five successful years, the Los Angeles native sold her business. But her desire to help Latinas use technology as a tool to reach their dreams kept growing. So her next creation was gottaFeeling, an iPhone application meant to help women become more self-aware. “A woman’s power comes from understanding herself,” she says. “But many are out of touch with their emotions.”

For Morga, it’s simple: Understanding how you feel is the key to knowing what you want. And the more we know our goals, the greater the likelihood of reaching them. “Women are full of fabulous ideas that only need to be realized,” she says.

Morga admits that it’s easy to get distracted on the way to making a vision come to life. But keeping up el animo is a must, and you can do it by relying on friends and family and by doing small tasks that “remind me I am capable of doing something to completion and well,” she says. “I like baking. It’s a great tangible task, and the smell of baked goods always reminds me that everything is going to be OK.”