My goals are pretty simple as far as a list goes, complex in how to get there.
Moisture management
When my moisture isn't in the ideal zone, I'm operating in the flood/saturated end of the spectrum. My goal is to maintain residue year round to absorb missile strikes from every raindrop. I protect my aggregates and glomalin holding my soil particles together and helping water and oxygen move down through. I have a goal of being able to carry a four wheeler over my soil as soon as the frost is out without rutting up my surface, regardless of how wet it is.
Sunlight harvesting
I view every plant as a factory powered by the sun. Each factory is producing something above ground and below ground that something else is using to keep the economy moving. Much like a rock is crushed to produce copper, copper turned into wire, wire that carries power, power that runs a tool, a tool that turns something into something else. Charcoal briquettes were a by-product of the Ford Motor Company. That's the kind of stuff I look for in plant selections. It might take several jumps before I can rationalize the function of a plant a deer don't use that will end up benefiting deer.
Nutrient mobilization
I'm focused on maintaining as much diversity in perennial and annual plantings as possible. Every single day of the growing season, I want as many plants as possible capturing sunlight and sending liquid carbon and exudates into the soil to keep the economy well fed and humming. How can I produce as much carbon and nitrogen as possible and in a balanced way every day of the growing season? How can I unlock all the rock-bound nutrients I need to grow? The only one I haven't figured out is natural production of sulfate in medium to low OM soils. I'm going for the highest natural fertility output with the lowest fertility input.
Oppressive weed prevention
I try to keep diversity sky high so I don't go back to debilitating single weed invasions. I am a frequent study of the conditions that bring about monospeciated weed attacks. I'm not anti-weeds. In low doses, I like having weeds because I know they are serving a purpose. I will have bilateral talks with my weeds to find out why they are there and adjust my strategy based on that feedback. Are the weeds telling me I've got too much free nitrogen? Too much compaction? Too much acidity? Too much water? Too much carbon?