Writing in Loops & Short Stories vs Novels

The Endless Loop

1. In order to write a book you must first have time
2. In order to have time you must avoid having a "real" job
3. To avoid having a "real" job you must have passive income
4. To have passive income you must have either:
1. A Spouse
2. In order to have a spouse you must have time to spend with/finding said spouse and any offspring that comes with this union
3. Plan Abort
5. or
1. Royalties
2. In order to have royalties you must be:
1. Published
2. To be published you should have an agent
3. To have an agent you need to have a book
4. Plan Abort
3. or
1. Self Published
2. To self publish you need money to publish your book and time to promote it as well as an excellent editor
3. Plan Abort

To avoid this endless loop there are two options

1. Plug away for years writing five minutes at a time in a dark corner somewhere when your wife/boss/child/prison guard isn't looking and hope that you complete your epic journey before you die then hope that someone discovers your work post mortem and they like it.
2. Go to university majoring in English or something and plan a career being a writer and having a job that caters to your dreams
1. Having missed opportunity #2 building a time machine and travelling back to 1994 and altering your course(s) then figuring out how to have all the people in your life you have now.

I think I am just going to suck it up and go with option #1.

Short Stories vs Novels
As I have alluded to a few times I have difficulty focusing my thoughts on just one story but I really need to so I ask you my constant reader(s) to assist me on the best course of action.

Complete a short story for submission to magazines/compolations etc.
Complete a novel to send to agencies etc.

Let's us just assume for a second that both the novel and short story are of equal quality.