Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life has been hailed as a great guide to dealing with change in every human beings life. Written in 1998 by acclaimed writer Dr. Spenser Johnson, this book has changed the lives of many and has sold several million copies worldwide spending quite some time in the best seller’s list. With less than 100 pages on its hard copy, making it a quick read in a few hours, what significance could this book hold to make it this phenomenal? What makes this book that extremely popular and a darling to many? Why do the testimonials of many reveal that the book has helped them deal with change in their lives efficiently? I dug into the book and finished it in three hours and I have to say this about the book ”Who moved my Cheese by Spencer Johnson”
Very great story
The story is just simply wonderful. Simple, concise, relatable, and downright catchy. The author takes us into the fictitious world of four characters in their quest to find cheese which is their source of nutrition and in effect, wellbeing. There exist 2 humans who are mice-sized as well as 2 actual mice. The mice, Scurry and Sniff adapt with change quite fast when their cheese is ‘moved’. Unlike the mice, the humans; Hem and Haw, take longer to adapt to change when they realized that the cheese has been ‘moved’ as well. Throughout the book, we are taken through the journey of these individuals as they discover how to deal with the change in their lives and to adapt effectively.
Very important lessons
Because of the versatility of the book, many individuals draw different lessons from the book. As with each character, there exist different paths that individuals take to change but the primary lesson is ‘Change always comes, learn to adapt’
Like Sniff, we need to smell change while it is still a distance away.
Like Scurry, we need to run quickly to the new destination when change occurs.
Unlike Hem who denies the occurrence of change and actually resists it, we need to do the opposite and accept and move on with the change
Both like and unlike Hem who takes a while to adapt and eventually succeed, we need to pick ourselves faster when change occurs rather than waiting for the last minute to accept and effect change
Very beautiful narration
In other self-help books, we often meet a tough-talking motivational speaker talking loudly and giving instructions on how he has done it and the reader should do it. This is often a bot exhaustive to any reader and could easily throw off the reader from even benefiting from the book. Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life however takes a different approach. In a parable-like manner, the writer narrates the entire story intertwining it with change and how to effect and handle it. In the entire narration, the writer draws you into the life of his characters and you see how they handle change as you reflect and relate with at least one of his characters. This taps into the human mind concisely as it is easier to remember stories, fables, and parables with a meaning than it is to just read and understand lessons.
This is one of those books you just have to get and quickly go through as the message in it is very vital to every single human being’s life. It is a very important story told in a smart way.