REVIEW — WHO MOVED MY CHEESE
Who Moved My Cheese? is a metaphorical parable that reveals profound truths, where all the goals you want to achieve , succeed in and the changes coming along which can be either predictable or surprising are compared with a “cheese”.
It talks on various aspects such as self-confidence, procrastination, determination, business, adaptability to sudden and unexpected change, courage, constant improvement and awareness about one’s surrounding and definitely never losing hope even in the situations when you feel as if you are lost in a maze and don’t know the way out.
A change is bound to happen in one’s life so one should anticipate the change and adapt to change quickly.
It highlights to be an ameliorate, energetic, opportunistic, futuristic and have a realistic approach with life.
There are four characters to the journey — the mice sniff and scurry and the little people Hem and Haw. Johnson uses a story of two rodents that once stumbled upon a jackpot of a cheese. And that unwanted finding of a lifetime supply of cheese made them put a stop to their hard work. Instead, they sat on their couch and started enjoying the cheese without doing any work whatsoever.
But years later, as they were consuming, the volume of cheese started to decline until it reached a point of zero. And that freaked out the first rodent, while the other one accepted it as a regular event. On the other hand, mice were fast enough to sense the changes.
One day cheese got over and the story continues with how each character reacts to it.
And this is the key theme of this book.
Some amount of fear can be good because we think what worse can happen and it will set a prompt action. But it is not good, when we are so afraid that it keeps us doing nothing .We should not be afraid to take risk in our lives, take risk when it is necessary.
So decide which character you are.
Sniff: One who sniffs all the opportunities and threats as they are approaching.
Scurry: One who scurries into action or take action immediately.
Haw: One who is reluctant to change at first but after seeing no other better alternative decides to change.
Hem: One who is scared of changes and thinks something wrong might happen, hence, doesn’t change at all.
All of them explain different behaviors and perspectives towards life and what it serves us. The most important thing is adaptive nature towards the surprises it comes with!
To quote few of them with my insights from the book:
Change Happens They Keep Moving The Cheese
Anticipate Change Get Ready For The Cheese To Move
Monitor Change Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old
Adapt To Change Quickly The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese
Change Move With The Cheese
Enjoy Change! Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!
Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again They Keep Moving The Cheese.
Spencer also explains how people from different backgrounds were able to relate the story to themselves and how applying the moral of this story changed their lives.
In one line if this book can summarize :-
“Be the best version of yourself before you become outdated”
Happy reading !
