Competition goals can vary from person to person. When I competed I always wanted to improve upon the last package I brought to the stage. For some people this means getting better conditioning while for others it means to build more muscle. This is the key to competing–coming up with the right competition goals.
When preparing for a competition you need to keep in mind what you hope to accomplish on stage. If you are looking to be bigger than everyone else in your division, your approach will be adjusted according to that goal. If you are looking to be leaner than anyone else in your division, that's an entirely different approach.
Goals when preparing for competitions are broken into two things–preparation goals and competition day goals.
Preparation Goals
Here is where you pay close attention to your progress. Track your body fat percentage to insure that you're heading in the right direction. This will help you know whether or not you need to increase or decrease cardio. I personally think that body weight is a useless measurement when competing unless your division has weight limitations, so I don't worry at all about that number.
Competition Day Goals
You will work on these goals throughout preparation and will see the results on stage. These goals can include a good posing routine that is smooth and understandable, increased mass, showing the best version of yourself, hiding flaws, etc. Make sure you keep track of these goals so that when you do your next competition you know what to change and what to keep the same.
Take the time to write down all your goals. I personally use Google Sheets for this purpose.
