I may be double your age, have my own knowledge gaps but also feel I may have made the best out of the worst by following a happy medium.

Though the above advice is sage, also keep things going in the right direction by ensuring you can, to the best of your ability, work, and keep yourself learning and earning simulataneously, even if that is not completly aligned to your immediate goals and objectives.

You'll still learn and meet people that could potentially help in your long term goals, if you don't forget what they are.

Stacking and spending are part of the same equation.