Two different ways to do it, both correct! I will actually call out building hearts as more important when you're new to the game. It can be pretty easy to stumble upon an enemy that will oneshot you if you only have the starting 3 hearts and little to no armor, and it's all the more likely to...
I guess I'm a bit of an outlier here, but I find the game becomes much more open and exploration-friendly with at least an extra full wheel of stamina. I almost always go for stamina first, up to that first full wheel and sometimes more, then hearts after that. In my current playthrough I just...