I have preached the importance of goals for a very long time. It gives your training direction. The problem I have been experiencing is, without competing regularly in powerlifting, I have been a little lost.
The interesting thing with losing the weight that I have, 120 lbs now, it's not what drives my training. That's purely nutrition. I don't change my training really to promote weight loss.
Interestingly, I have steered my conditioning at times to help with shedding some lbs, but I find that often becomes counterproductive. I would get on the treadmill for increasing amounts of time, often for an hour or more. What I found was that it didn't really help my weight loss. I think I'd start getting obsessed and it would drive my cortisol levels up which is no bueno for fat loss.
Anyway, in the gym at our old house, I had painted a spot on the wall with chalkboard paint so I could write my competition goals down. As soon as I'd knock one down, I'd get started on another. I am proud to say, I accomplished every one I had written.
Now that I really only compete on whims, I haven't had a lot of focus with my training. Without seriously competitive powerlifting, I was lacking goals. This caused me to evaluate what I want to accomplish in 2019.
I have three major goals which are in no order of importanc: to get my bodyweight under 200 lbs, run an 8-minute mile, and train pain-free. I think they are all somewhat doable. Although, that pain-free training goal might be a bit of a stretch. That's good though, your goals should not be too easy, nor should they be completely out of reach.
Also, I wrote some basic tenets to remember with my training. I tend to only focus on chasing strength when I'm in the gym, but that can often come at a cost. I'll always want to be strong, but that is not my first priority right now and coming up with these tenets helped me realize that.
What I am training for presently is to be a better outdoor adventurer. That might not necessarily be competitive, but it's what's most important to me right now. With this second life I earned by losing those 120 lbs, I get to enjoy a lot of things I was not able to as a larger land mammal. I am passionate about skiing, paddle boarding, and hiking. So that's what I'm training to be better at and my 2019 goals will help me with all of them.
I feel confident I will compete again, but I need to be in the right mental space to do so. I'll need a goal as well. Right now though, competing does not fit in with my priorities. Remember, you can't serve too many masters at once. There's absolutely zero chance of me getting lighter, faster, pain-free, and stronger at the same time. Keep this in mind when creating your own training goals.