Everyone is different. Me, I need goals. I did the unfocused try to race everything approach in my late 20s and I got burnt out and quit riding entirely. For a new racer its important to experience different kinds of races, but trying to race everything on the calendar and ride hard all the time is maybe not such a good idea. It wasn't for me. I need acheivable goals so there's a "done with that, on to the next" phase.

Now (I'm 50) I plan around a couple races that are important to me. I do other races but those A races define my season. So my season has distinct phases rather than being an amorphous "try to go fast all the time" lump. So far I have made it through five years of racing without getting sick of riding, which is more than I did last time. Admittedly I'm not successful if you measure success by wins and placings, but I am still enjoying riding, which is my measure of success.