rival schools

Do you set a goal or have any expectations while you are in class training?  By goal or expectation, I don't mean how many taps you will get, but a goal or expectation of working/attempting a certain move with success.  Or are you one to just go into a roll with a general plan and try to flow, either to see what your opponent gives you and react or to dictate the situation from the outset?  

When I was younger, I was more in the first school of thought...Pick a technique to focus on while you are in training.  The first step was to get into that position, by force if necessary. The second, was to fight your way through the move while you opponent did their best to fend you off.  All this worked at the beginning, until the opponent caught on to the fact that you were forcing the situation, and then it didn't work so well and I would end up frustrated.  After that I would try to sell it a bit better, aka fake left go right sort of thing, which did work for a while. But after a while everyone would catch on and I would get frustrated once again, doubting my jiu-jitsu.  

At some point I transitioned into the flow roll method, taking what my opponent gives me but always keeping in mind a general game plan.  I found it to be less frustrating this way rather than trying something over and over with no or limited luck.  If I want to drill a particular move, it happens in the advanced class where the first half is our time is used to focus on things that we want to work on.  I also found that training this way is more "realistic" in terms of having a competition mindset.  When I compete and I'd imagine most of us are the same, I have a general game plan which I work through in my head for a few days before the tournament.  When the ref calls us out, I immediately get right into it and don't waste time trying to force the same move over and over.

I bring all this up because the other day someone suggested that I start to pick a technique and then hunt for it in training.  As usual, I listened with an open mind but was unsure if I should revisit this aspect of training.  Any thoughts on this?  What does everyone else do or think?