Intent and purpose in training

What's the purpose of your drill? How about your Kata? Patrick, at the venerable Mokuren Dojo blog, always seems to have something in every post which can apply to all of us. This post, "Gripe about Tomiki jo" is no exception. Patrick asks this key question:

Or do you do kata in order to get better at some underlying principle (ju oraiki or ran or whatever)?  Are kata a vehicle or are they an end goal?

It's a great question, and i would apply it to the way many (including me) have practiced rote drills, too. What is the purpose of bag work, siniwali, hubud, chi sao, takedown drills, dry fire drills, much less kata? Many practice weapons or empty hand drills with an empty intent, only going through the motions, or with the intention to perform the drill perfectly, without the true purpose which is skill or attribute development.

A great observation that we can all apply every time we train.
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