Apropos of nothing, I woke up in the middle of the night last night specifically to express this thought:
A goal is a dream with sweat on it.
I can't decide if it's profound - and if it is, I demand credit for coming up with it - or if it's just a by-product of eating meatballs laden with MSG.
UPDATE: Apparently my subconscious glommed on to someone else's quote, which is "Success is a goal with sweat on it," written by Jonathan Odell in The View from Delphi.
Phrasing the quote his way makes way more sense, too.
Stupid meatballs.
Nice! :-) you should cross-stitch a sampler or something.
Posted by: marie | October 26, 2008 at 06:46 AM
Could it be that MSG is really an acronym for "My Sweaty Goal?" Hmmm...
Posted by: Jen S | October 26, 2008 at 12:42 AM
Awesome...love it.
How bout this one that keeps running through my mind: The truth will set you free, But freedom is the ultimate truth.
I wish everyone could see how truly free they are. It would help them put sweat on their dreams. :)
Posted by: Jen | October 25, 2008 at 09:43 PM
Why do the best thoughts come mid sleep and msg or more likely, alcohol induced? At least your insight is motivational...as opposed to my "I should have said F.U. to that asshat!!!!"
Posted by: Dina | October 25, 2008 at 06:33 PM
It reminds me of Langston Hughes " A Dream Deferred"
Posted by: Wendy | October 25, 2008 at 05:29 PM
initial thought- profound... then my mind turned to a saying I learned during summer visits to my kentucky 'kinfolk's' farm. "tough titty said the kitty, but the milk's still good". never would have learned that one in suburban so calif.
Posted by: krista colvin | October 25, 2008 at 04:43 PM
Very well put, bordering on profound... maybe not one for the ages, but definitely pithy.
Sounds like a tee-shirt slogan (but in a good way).
Posted by: amy g | October 25, 2008 at 12:37 PM
I love it.
I've had a serious goal I've been trying to accomplish for three years now. I'm not getting anywhere. It sucks. On the bad days I'm pretty sure I'm LOSING ground, I think it's doing me in.
So my goal is a dream with blood on it.
Yeah. Yours is better.
Posted by: Lesley | October 25, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Just vaguely gross! Happy now?
Posted by: SaneAndSingle | October 25, 2008 at 08:50 AM
Mmmm... meatballs....
Thank you, Jen! I had a good laugh over that. I think it's very profound, along the lines of Faber College's motto "Knowledge is good."
Posted by: Terry | October 25, 2008 at 08:49 AM
perfect i love it!the more you sweat the closer you are to your goal
Posted by: Gina | October 25, 2008 at 08:27 AM
Ok, specifically - that really is brilliant. I needed to see it because it's 9:20am and I'm looking warily at my workout clothes. We're all going to meet our trainer for the first time and I'm askeered.
Generally, thank you sooooooooo much for the countless guffaw laughs you've provided me with! Your three books are always on my night table to lift my spirits.
So, I'm off to the gym. Pray.
Posted by: Jess | October 25, 2008 at 08:23 AM
Love it. Can I use it?
Posted by: Marisa | October 24, 2008 at 09:05 PM
WHY does my brain keep converting this great profundity into a disgusting statement about a MEATBALL with sweat on it??? Ick!!!
Posted by: Ginny | October 24, 2008 at 08:20 PM
I get the mental image of the 'Hang in there!" kitty, but with sweat bands around kitty wrists and kitty forehead.
Posted by: Oneder_woman | October 24, 2008 at 08:19 PM
Brilliant, I'd say, even if the meatballs are to blame. I know I do some of my best thinking all doped up on Chinese food.
Posted by: Happy Wag | October 24, 2008 at 07:18 PM
Very poignant. Eat meatballs more often.
Posted by: Mrs.D | October 24, 2008 at 07:12 PM
I vote for profound. And it's not gross (although it would have been if you'd said something like "goals are sweaty dreams").
Posted by: Tamara in T.O. | October 24, 2008 at 06:21 PM
This should be everyone's new mantra -
it works for weight loss
for meeting Mr. Right
for getting a new job
Jen for President!
*Vote November 4th!
Posted by: liz | October 24, 2008 at 05:02 PM
I absolutely love it. I'm printing it off and putting in my classroom (with your name on it of course) and putting it up in my classroom for all my students to see.
Posted by: Essentially Me | October 24, 2008 at 04:56 PM
Your thought is totally profound. It is so profound that you have inspired me to go into the kitchen to bake chocolate chip cookies (goal), which will taste amazing (dream), and will cause me to burn calories (sweat) because my kitchen gets so hot when I turn on the oven.
Thank you for the profound-ism.
Posted by: Leslie | October 24, 2008 at 03:40 PM
Jen, it's amazingly profound and I just googled it and the only site that it's found on is good ol' Jennsylvania!!!
So, your fabulous highness, It's yours--take all the credit you want....and if Fletch laughs just beat 'em!!
I love it so much that I just typed it up all pretty and put in on my bulletin board ;)
Loves it....and love ya!!
Posted by: Jules | October 24, 2008 at 03:40 PM
indeed, quite profound....now please excuse me so i can go find a MEATBALL SANDWICH and stop the horrible rumbling in my tummy!!!
Posted by: MJ | October 24, 2008 at 03:39 PM
I'd go with awesomely profound. Awesome not in the true sense of the word but more like a bad-ass kind of awesome since we're talking sweatyness and hard work.
Posted by: Jeannine | October 24, 2008 at 02:29 PM
This example right here just goes to prove WHY they dont allow MSG in foods...."a goal is a dream with sweat on it" lmao, really Jen Lancaster, really!?
Posted by: Mandaner | October 24, 2008 at 02:10 PM
it's so stinking profound, i'm all so motivated to go after my long term, just outta my reach goal...mmm, but wait...meatballs? gotta get some of that, first and then...oh yeah, and then baby, look out, cause i'm goin' for my sweaty dream. so get outta the way, and before you do, pass me some parmesan.
gee thanks jenn....i'll owe it all to you.
Posted by: nadine | October 24, 2008 at 02:06 PM
Hi new fan here.
Just finished Such a pretty fat and wanted to say....get the hell outta my head!
Seriously, I could have written that book (if I weren't so darned lazy & and if had actually done the exercise part).
I am (once again) starting WW on Tues and now you have me already hating it. Oh well - I have to do something - fat elbows are not becoming.
Posted by: Kim | October 24, 2008 at 01:46 PM
I like it. Now, what does deodorant equate to in this equasion?
Posted by: Domestic Goddess (In Training) | October 24, 2008 at 01:27 PM
That would be the kind of motivational poster that would have me burst into gales of laughter every time I saw it. Yes, it is profound, but then I imagine a sweaty me trying to write a book or something else I dream of. Too! Funny!
Posted by: Emily | October 24, 2008 at 01:25 PM
I actually find it profound. So I'd go with that!
Posted by: Jessica | October 24, 2008 at 01:13 PM
I like the motivational poster idea!!! The picture could be some hottie male specimen with just the right amount of sweat to be sexy. This was the man I was IMAGINING yesterday at the gym to block out the sweaty stinky guy on the elliptical next to me...
Posted by: Becky | October 24, 2008 at 12:39 PM
It's the MSG. For sure the MSG. :)
Posted by: MazingAmy | October 24, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Profound. Definitely.
And accurate!
Posted by: Princess of the Universe | October 24, 2008 at 12:17 PM
OMG. I had the same experience but my brain produced, "Leaves are a tree's fingerprints."
However, everyone I have shared this with does not believe, like me, that it is some deep Ancient Chinese Secret revealed only to me. Rather, I get blank stares--or an outright middle finger. . . .
Posted by: Jeff B | October 24, 2008 at 11:57 AM
I LOVE it and added it to my facebook page, properly giving you credit of course. :)
Posted by: Keri | October 24, 2008 at 11:42 AM
Ha-ah! Profound? Indeed! Meatballs? Probably 50/50. Hormones? Let's try not to think about that one.
Posted by: JennD | October 24, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Profound.
Very.
Your mind is an amazing and wonderful thing, Jen.
Posted by: Linda S. | October 24, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Were you sweating when you woke up in the middle of the night when this awesome quote came to you?
Often when I wake up in the middle of night laden in sweat, it's a sign that I'm going to get my period.
Posted by: Manic Mommy | October 24, 2008 at 10:41 AM
I think this revision proves it was just the meatballs...
A goal is a sweaty dream.
=)
Posted by: Megan | October 24, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Go with the MSG. After eating Rosati's pizza pockets (all four of them), I'd be so full of salt, I'd wake up in the middle of the night to drink a bottle and a half of water.
All I'll say here is the dehydrated dreams were HUGE. Color, too.
Man I miss Rosati's. Funny how moving away from Chicago, the only thing I miss is the food.
Posted by: Kuj | October 24, 2008 at 10:24 AM
meatballs. yum.
must.go.to.IKEA.
Posted by: sue Treiber | October 24, 2008 at 10:14 AM
loves it! Thanks for taking some of your busy time to post for you fevered followers.
Posted by: heather in tx | October 24, 2008 at 10:13 AM
Meatballs laden with MSG? Were you at IKEA again, Jen?
Actually I like it. It's going up on my fridge.
Posted by: tracee | October 24, 2008 at 10:08 AM
I likey!! Profound? Sure why not, but what I am really contemplating now is why I ate that #$^& soup for dinner last night instead of MEATBALLS!
Posted by: Christi | October 24, 2008 at 10:02 AM
You're out of control... I love it...
Posted by: Brenda | October 24, 2008 at 09:48 AM
This reminds me of those "inspirational" posters. I don't even want to think about the picture that would go with this saying.
I don't think we can blame this on the msg. I've had LOTs of that in my time here, and I don't think I've ever woken up with a profound thought! (Of couse, you could probably count the lifetime total of my profound thoughts on one hand... I'm not real deep.)
Posted by: DodiM | October 24, 2008 at 09:46 AM
I hate setting goals and I hate to sweat. Now my life makes sense!
Posted by: Terri D. | October 24, 2008 at 09:37 AM
You're freaking fabulous! Your site is what gets me through these horrible cubicle days! I agree it's deep- meatballs are food for thought.
Posted by: Jennifer | October 24, 2008 at 09:28 AM
Hmmm... reminds me of something from Despair.com.
Posted by: AJMick | October 24, 2008 at 09:25 AM
Wow - thst is so deep I almost drowned in it (eeewww! LOL)
That is very profound indeed!
I like it.
Maye I can get our HS football team to have that on their shirts next year!
Posted by: Kellee | October 24, 2008 at 09:16 AM