Book Review: Who Moved My Cheese

tl;dr — Have a growth mindset.

The Story

We are creatures of habit. We like predictability and the comfort of knowing what’s going to happen next in life.​ Dealing with change can be hard. This evergreen best seller describes how different personalities deal with change and gives practical advice on how to embrace and succeed in an ever-changing, fast paced world.

The story goes like this: There are two pairs of mice stuck in a maze and need cheese for nourishment and comfort. Both sets of mice find cheese and are happy. One day, the cheese is gone! Their world is thrown upside down.

The first pair, Sniff & Scurry are mice who recognized change was coming and adapted quick. They went searching for new cheese.

The second pair, Hem and Haw, were comfortable in their daily lives with the cheese and were blindsided when it was gone. They became upset and frozen when change came — they expected things to never change and became frustrated and angry, unwilling to change. After time has passed, Haw started to wander away from Hem to find cheese. It was difficult for him, but he learned many lessons along the way. Those lessons become the life teachings we all can benefit from when dealing with change.

The Lesson

The book resonates well because everyone relates to one or more of the characters. Everyone fears something. Everyone reacts to change differently. We see ourselves in the characters. And it’s not just about us — we know people represented by the different characters in the book.

This book made me really step back and think about what I value, fear, how I deal with change, and what I want to change. There is so much opportunity right now in engineering. So much opportunity to be aggressive, disrupt legacy industries, and invent. This book just reinforced and inspired me to get more aggressive in life.

You don’t need to read the book to get value from it’s message.

Think about your life!

How do you deal with change? What is your cheese? What do you value in life? Your job? Your house? Your family? Your retirement portfolio? Your religion?

What would you do if your cheese was taken away? What would you do if you lost your job? Your house? Your spouse? Your money? Your health? Are you preparing yourself

20 years after this book was published (1998), this lesson is more relevant than ever. The world continues to speed up. And let’s face it — it’s not going to slow down. Ever. Are you ready to embrace and capitalize on change? Do you have a growth mindset? Are you embracing and seeking out change?

The main points and self-reflecting questions to ask yourself

• The more important cheese is to you the more you want to hold on to it.
• Recognize when change is coming. Accept it and adapt! Don’t fight it.
• If you do not change, you’ll become extinct.
• What would you do if you weren’t afraid?
• Smell the cheese often so you know when it’s getting old.
• When you stop being afraid you feel good.
• The quicker you let go of the old cheese the quicker you’ll find new cheese.
• Taming fear and having a positive attitude make all the difference.
• Confidence is critical. Trying new things, overcoming fear gives you confidence.
• What you are afraid of is never as bad as what you imagine.
• He started to think more about what could go wrong than what could go right.
• Old beliefs do not lead you to new cheese.
• When you change what you believe you change what you do.
• Noticing small changes early help you adapt to big changes that are too come.
• Sniff and scurry kept life simple. When the situation changes they move on.

Principles and techniques for living life which is constantly changing

• The fastest way to change is to laugh at yourself and move on.
• Reflect on your mistakes and use them to plan your future.
• Keep things simple and move quickly.
• Some fear is good, healthy. But don’t let fear paralyze you.
• You are your own biggest inhibitor to change.
• There is always new cheese out there.
• Explore around. Don’t get too comfortable. Be aware of your choices.
• Be aggressive in life. Attack life with everything you’ve got.
• Some people feel entitled to their cheese. (Hems)
• Initiate change while you can rather than react to it.
• Each company has all four mice. Recognize and use them appropriately.
• Hope is exciting — it helps you get past fear.