“Who Moved My Cheese?” by Dr. Spencer Johnson — Book Review

“Who Moved My Cheese?” tells a story that is, at the same time, both simple and brilliant. From all the reviews I’ve read online and all the people I’ve spoken with about this small narrative, one thing is undeniable, it’s very likely to cause some kind of positive impact on the reader. Is one of those stories that you can relate to every character, like all the good parables are.

The ideas represented in this book can be applied to both personal and professional life. In that case, I would compare it to the great “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu. (I know! That’s a huge statement.)

This book’s major topic is about change. Throughout life every single one of us faces a lot of changes that could be moving to a new house, a new city, a new job, a promotion, a sudden change of job satisfaction, a new dynamic in your office, the end of a relationship, some development in a current relationship, some concept that you’re focused and invested on that didn’t resulted as you were expecting, just to name a few. Surely, change is a constant in human life, knowing that, we should be prepared to deal with it in the best way possible.

The story itself

In this book you’re introduced to 4 characters living inside a maze. 2 mouses(Sniff and Scurry) and 2 Little people(Hem and Haw).

In the beginning all 4 characters are mostly equally focused on finding their cheese but once they get a taste of it, things start to change. Keep in mind, the cheese is just a metaphor for your goals, what makes you happy and what you want in life.

Little people, as similar to humans as they are, start to over-relax, getting too comfortable, considering the cheese as theirs, as they deserved it, they owned it and only the greatest injustice in the world would take it for them. Certainly, this can’t happen, right?

Truth is, there is a point in the narrative where indeed the cheese moved position, things changed! The characters personally start to influence their behaviour greatly.

The 2 mouses quickly, without losing any time, start looking for new cheese elsewhere.

The 2 Little people, preciously ignoring all the warnings, are caught by surprise. They don’t know what to do, they had cheese before and it was right there! They were quite comfortable in that situation, now they start worrying about everything, had built their life around that cheese and now the cheese was gone. They weren’t prepared, “What are they supposed to do? Where are they supposed to go?”.

Personally, I loved this book. Specially how I could identity characters behaviours/personalities into my past experiences:

• Sniff, who sniffs out change early;
• Scurry, who scurries into action;
• Haw, who learns to adapt in time when he sees changing can lead to something better;
• Hem, who denies and resists change as he fears it will lead to something worse; (don’t be this guy).

The story ends with Sniff and Scurry finding new cheese. Haw eventually finds his cheese but only after struggling a lot. Regarding Hem the reader is left with an open-ending, one of the big debates regarding this story.

Moral Story

Life’s changes, we must change with it! Don’t fear change, or getting out of your comfortable zone. Pursuit your cheese! Monitor it and ensure you’ll have it in the future. These are just some ideas you can get from reading this book.

In my opinion, this book is an adventure, you will surely identify some behaviour to your past experiences and even though the story is quite small some impact on your life is mostly likely. There are so many situations, small perspectives represented in one sentence and some details that Dr. Spencer Johnson puts so simply and marvellously, making the book a delicious collection of thoughts.

As the author says:

“Whatever parts of us we choose to use, we all share something in common: a need to find our way in the maze and succeed in changing times.”

Good luck and keep an eye on your cheese! 🧀 👀