Don't burden yourself with exploration early in the game.
It may seem tempting to avoid the apparent path to do some good ol' exploration. However, most side paths only lead to rooms and ways you cannot access in the early game. The best part about waiting is that the whole world opens up when you have about 80% of the abilities Samus will get. Which some will argue is when the game REALLY begins. The more you put off, the more you have later.
