Authored by Dr. Spencer Johnson
Who moved my cheese is a small and simple book yet it has principles and lessons that are way deeper and its wisdom long lasting. Its writing style will blow you off, it is enjoyable to read and it prepares you to handle change in your work or life. This is a book that addresses so many domains, be it different professions, gender, age or nationality. It’s a top book that everyone should read. How to handle change can be stressful in work or in life, this book uses feeble to show
us how we can handles change. Cheese is a metaphor for what we want in life be it a job, health, money or success. Each one of us has our own idea of what cheese is and we pursue it because we believe it makes us happy, if we get it, we often become attached to it and if we lose it or it is taken away from us, we become devastated. This story takes place in a maze, where four amusing characters: the two mice (Sniff and Scurry) and two little people (Ham and Hem) look for cheese .The two mice and two little people found cheese at station C, they
become very comfortable and expected the cheese will always be there, they believe having the cheese makes them happy, they even moved their home closer to cheese station and creating a false sense of security. The two mice rather behaved differently, they paid attention to small changes and anticipated change. One morning, station C had no more cheese the two mice hit the maze in search of more cheese while the two little people feel betrayed and complained as they wasted time and energy hoping the old cheese would return. It is natural for change to continuously occur whether we like it or not, the two little people kept doing the same thing but expected different results. They did not want to change when things change. “If we do not change we can become extinct.” One of the little people (Ham) decided to look for the cheese, he trusted what lies ahead even if it was unknown. “When you move beyond your fears you feel free and the earlier you let of the old cheese the sooner you find new cheese.” Hem who remained at station C, let fear build up on his mind as he thought the new cheese won’t be as good as the old one. When we change what we
believe, we change what we do, eventually the two little people relocate to station N where they found the new cheese and the two mice already there enjoying the new cheese. What would happen if we weren’t afraid? Things constantly change so we must adapt, the quicker we adapt to change the more satisfied we would be, the principle we learn from this book are:
• 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’s getting old
• Adapt to change quickly : the quicker you let go of old cheese ,the sooner you get to enjoy the new cheese
• Change: move with the cheese
• Enjoy change: savor the adventure and enjoy the taste of new cheese.
Review by Effie Odhiambo
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