A bit of brilliance from K.M Weiland,
The point is: the character must have a goal to move toward. If he doesn’t know where he’s going and why, his actions lose importance in the eyes of the reader. Ifyou don’t know where he’s going and why, you need to figure it out, either by outlining the scene ahead of time or by cutting the meandering bits after you’ve written all the way through the scene the first time around.
Keep this in mind because I know I do it all the time. Oops!
http://wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.com/2012/09/writing-mistakes-17-character-purpose.html
Jennifer Silverwood 