NFA Finance

What’s the longest book you’ve ever read?

Truthfully, I have no idea.

It probably wasn’t actually the longest book by page count. It was probably just a book I didn’t like very much—the kind I would read for a while, put down, and then eventually pick back up because I felt like I should finish it.

Those books seem to take forever.

A great book can be 500 pages long and feel short. You get wrapped up in it, keep turning pages, and suddenly you’re finished. But a 200-page book that never grabs you can feel like it takes six months to read.

That’s probably true about more than books.

When you’re interested in something, when you believe in it, and when you’re growing from it, the work doesn’t feel nearly as heavy. You can spend hours doing it and lose track of time.

But when you’re forcing yourself through something that doesn’t interest you, every page feels longer than the last.

I’ve always tried to finish what I start. Sometimes that’s discipline. Sometimes it’s stubbornness. And sometimes you have to recognize that not everything deserves more of your time just because you already started it.

So I can’t tell you the title of the longest book I’ve ever read.

But I can almost guarantee it was one I didn’t like.

Keep turning the pages—but know when it’s time to choose a better book.

— Nicholas Francis
NFAFinance.com