Music as a career

So here's the deal:
        I've realized recently that I have a lot of thoughts about life, music, business, and the music business that flow through my head everyday, and I'm not recording them or sharing them with anyone. Recently I was asked to put several presentations together about writing and recording music, and making a career in the music business, that I will be giving over the next few days to a group of music students. In the process of putting these presentations together, I realized that I have outlined a lot of these thoughts that I never wrote down.

But here's a problem: I hate blogging.

        It's just so much work, so time consuming to write so much down, and I hardly ever remember everything I thought of during the day. So I'm hoping to start posting to this space more often, and hopefully I won't say very much in each post. I want to share just enough information that it's more useful than just a proverb or saying, but not so lengthy that we both lose interest by the end. Sound like fun?

I will start with pursuing music as a career.
First post:
        So you want to be a musician, huh? Play in a band and make it big? Maybe not, maybe you just want to be an accompanist, a songwriter, or a director for a large ensemble. Maybe you want to be a music teacher. Maybe you don't want to be in the music business at all. Whether you're in the music business or not, the following advice is for you: Figure out your priorities.
        One of my favorite lyrics that's ever made an impact on me is from the song "Freewill" by the band Rush. It says: "you can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice, if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice." I think that's brilliant! There's far too many people today who don't even know that they've made a choice.
        If you don't know already, you should figure out what you believe....about everything. Religion, politics, philosophy, values, everything. Even if you're not sure what to believe, you should be aware of that! A lot of people have made the choice of not knowing what to believe, and they don't even know it, because they've never questioned themselves. Even if you have no clue about anything, recognizing you have no clue is extremely valuable. It's like breaking an addiction, admitting you have a problem is the first step.
        I think a lot of people are addicted to just getting through one more day, and trying not to think about the big picture, because they're scared, or lazy, or because they never have before. Stop it! Take the first step.
        Even if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.