who moved my cheese book review pdf

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Who Moved My Cheese? (Book Review)

Related Papers

Nicolas Lutkens

Hong Kong Economic Journal, 5 November 2014

Yue-Chim Wong

Felipe Francisco Ferreira Alves do Carmo

Burcu Meram

Daniyal Wali

The characters in Lord of the Flies possess recognizable symbolic significance, which make them as the sort of people around us. Ralph stands for civilization and democracy; Piggy represents intellect and rationalism; Jack signifies savagery and dictatorship; Simon is the incarnation of goodness and saintliness. All of these efficiently portray the microcosm of that society.

Maureen Hosay

The Three Little Pigs and Bruno Bettelheim

A critical approach to shallow and nonsense interpretation by Bruno Bettelheim of tales and children stories

Zulaikha Anis

William max

The novel “Lord of the Flies” was written by William Golding prior to World War II. Ideally, the novel outlines a story of 12 boys who got stranded in uninhabited Island when their airplane crashed. This assignment focuses on symbolism that the author applies to reveal or bring out his message in the novel. The story involves several characters. The characters described on this assignment include Ralph (democratic and civilized leader), Jackson (dictatorial leader), Piggy (a vulnerable character), Simon (a saint and a Christ-like character), and Samneric (identical twins most referred to as ‘bigguns’). Typically, the thesis is divided into four main parts which include the introduction, literature review, analysis, and conclusion. Noticeably, the objective of this assignment is to describe the extent to which William Golding applies symbolism in the novel “Lord of the Flies”. Towards this end, the paper focuses on five inanimate objects or symbols that Golding uses to bring his message to the readers. The five main symbols discussed include the conch shell which a symbol of power and authority, the lord of the flies which is the most valuable symbol in the novel, and the beast which is a symbol for instinct of aggressiveness and violence among humankind. The two other symbols include the signal fire which signifies the call for ships to come to the rescue of the stranded boys, and Piggy glasses which symbolize human intellect and innovations due to the development of science. However, some themes come up while analyzing symbolism in this novel. These themes include loss of innocence, civilization versus violence, and pessimism. Nevertheless, symbolism is used in several instances but this assignment concentrates only on the five inanimate objects aforementioned.

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Western American Literature

Sara Spurgeon

GDR bulletin

Mark Gregorio

Sultan Pasya

Virginia Woolf Bulletin, 28 (May 2008): 36-47

Irena Ksiezopolska

Manchester University Press eBooks

Steve Sohmer

Ilham Permana

daisy bernard

Ayansola Ibukun

Erdem GÖNCÜ

Thomas Weinandy

Jon-Erik S Tateri

Orbis Litterarum

TaMrin El-zHyrazy

Chicago Quarterly Review

Amy A . Foley, PhD

Reading Teacher

Catherine Kurkjian

Sophia Eyerman

Hugh Scrope

The Yale Review

New Literary History

Julian Murphet

The Modern Language Review

Porter Abbott

Stuart Burrows

Annelies Martens

JoLLA: Journal of Language, Literature, and Arts

M. Misbahul Amri

The Reading Teacher

miriam Martinez

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Who Moved My Cheese Summary

1-Sentence-Summary:   Who Moved My Cheese tells a parable, which you can directly apply to your own life, in order to stop fearing what lies ahead and instead thrive in an environment of change and uncertainty.

Favorite quote from the author:

Table of Contents

Video Summary

Who moved my cheese review, audio summary, who would i recommend the who moved my cheese summary to.

Funny, how you sometimes stumble into things that were right in front of your nose, all along. I’ve had this book for 10 years. When I was a kid, my uncle gave it to me, it was a leftover copy from somewhere. I briefly looked at it (it was still wrapped), thought it was a “manager’s book” and put it away. I distinctly remember the picture of the cheese slice on the cover, and turned it in my hands a couple times since. Sadly, I never felt intrigued enough to read it. What an idiot I was!

This site would probably have existed 5 years earlier, had I read it back then. But there’s no use in crying over spilled milk, so I’ll just make do with what I’ve got and share some of Spencer Johnson’s great lessons about change with you right now.  Who Moved My Cheese  a parable about two little people and two mice in a maze, searching for cheese, where each character represents a different attitude towards change, with cheese being what we consider success .

Here are 3 lessons about cheese and what you should do when someone moves yours:

• Thinking too much about your cheese might paralyze you, so just start looking.
• Nothing lasts forever, so keep your eyes open for approaching changes.
• You can always find new cheese, and the minute you start moving things will get better.

Are you ready to become a champion of change? Let’s look for that cheese!

If you want to save this summary for later, download the free PDF and read it whenever you want.

Lesson 1: Stop thinking too much about your cheese and start chasing it.

The two mice inside of our maze are Sniff and Scurry. They spend most of their time running up and down the corridors of the maze, looking for cheese. Turn a corner, run to the end, see if there’s any cheese, and if not, turn around and go back. That’s their pattern, and, while it seems kind of mindless and unstructured, it actually saves them a lot of time and energy.

Hem and Haw, two little people, also spend their days in the maze looking for cheese, but not because they’re hungry – they think finding it will make them feel happy and successful. However, because of their complex brains, they think a lot about

• how they can find the cheese the fastest
• which strategies will work best in getting through the maze
• how to keep track of those strategies
• what finding the cheese will feel like
• when they’ll finally find it

…and of course, they wonder if there even is any cheese in the maze at all every time they turn another empty corner.

Life is the same. Every minute you spend wondering what success looks like, how to get it, whether it’s possible and how you’ll feel in the future is a minute not spend working towards it. Humans are complicated beings, but that doesn’t mean we have to make everything complicated .

Be more like a mouse and just start running!

Lesson 2: Even the biggest cheese doesn’t last forever, so try to see change coming.

Sniff and Scurry soon found a big stash of cheese at Station C, and even though they enjoyed snacking a bit of it every day, they kept paying attention. The amount of cheese kept declining, slowly, but steadily, every day. Once they realized they were about to run out, they decided to move on of their own accord and soon found another huge cheese at Station N.

When Hem and Haw found station C, however, they settled there, and quickly grew accustomed to the new status quo . The cheese fest they indulged in every day soon became the center of their lives, as they thought it was the fair reward for all their hard work. They were so preoccupied with the cheese that they didn’t notice how it was disappearing, one piece at a time, and how some corners of it even got moldy. One morning, they woke up, only to find  someone had moved their cheese .

This left Hem and Haw sad, depressed, feeling treated unfairly and in denial. Instead of venturing out to find new cheese, they kept returning to Station C, getting ever hungrier and weaker.

No supply of cheese can last forever. Change is always bound to happen, sooner or later. Instead of fooling yourself that things will stay the same forever, always keep an eye open for change.

Lesson 3: Don’t worry, there’s always new cheese to be found. The minute you start moving things will improve.

The best part about cheese isn’t that once you’ve found it you’re set for life. It’s that there’s always more cheese to be found. Haw eventually got sick of sitting around, so he decided to go looking for new cheese all by himself.

Once he started moving, his situation instantly got better. Yes, he just found a few bits and pieces of cheese here and there at first, but this was a lot better than doing nothing and being paralyzed by fear. After having found the courage to move on despite your fears once, fear’s grip on you will never be as strong as it used to be .

Haw realized the accumulated fears in his mind were a lot worse than even the biggest challenges he encountered. Full of confidence, he kept exploring the maze, until he eventually found Sniff and Scurry at Station N, where the three of them shared the new cheese they had found.

This is a great book. I love stories like these. It  is a management book, and many a manager has told this story to his team to inspire them, but it’s just as valuable for you as an individual.

It describes a simple pattern of embracing change, finding success, looking out for more change and then embracing it again, which will help you cultivate a much more optimistic attitude about life. A really cool book!

Listen to the audio of this summary with a free reading.fm account:

The 15 year old, who got this book from a relative, but has never touched it, because he thinks it’s “just a business book”, the 32 year old accountant at a big corporation, who sometimes feels her drive for change is nipped in the bud, because structures are rusty, and anyone who likes Stuart Little.

Last Updated on August 1, 2022

Niklas Göke

Niklas Göke is an author and writer whose work has attracted tens of millions of readers to date. He is also the founder and CEO of Four Minute Books, a collection of over 1,000 free book summaries teaching readers 3 valuable lessons in just 4 minutes each. Born and raised in Germany, Nik also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration & Engineering from KIT Karlsruhe and a Master’s Degree in Management & Technology from the Technical University of Munich. He lives in Munich and enjoys a great slice of salami pizza almost as much as reading — or writing — the next book — or book summary, of course!

*Four Minute Books participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising commissions by linking to Amazon. We also participate in other affiliate programs, such as Blinkist, MindValley, Audible, Audiobooks, Reading.FM, and others. Our referral links allow us to earn commissions (at no extra cost to you) and keep the site running. Thank you for your support.

Need some inspiration? 👀 Here are... The 365 Most Famous Quotes of All Time »

Share on mastodon.

• Member Login
• Library Patron Login

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR

FREE NEWSLETTERS

Search: Title Author Article Search String:

Reviews of Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson

Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio

Who Moved My Cheese

An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life

by Spencer Johnson

Critics' Opinion:

Readers' Opinion:

Rate this book

Buy This Book

About this Book

Book summary.

The coauthor of the multimillion bestseller The One Minute Manager™ has written a deceptively simple story with a dramatically important message.

With Who Moved My Cheese? Dr. Spencer Johnson realizes the need for finding the language and tools to deal with change--an issue that makes all of us nervous and uncomfortable. Most people are fearful of change because they don't believe they have any control over how or when it happens to them. Since change happens either to the individual or by the individual, Spencer Johnson shows us that what matters most is the attitude we have about change. With the approach of the year 2000, most work environments are finally recognizing the urgent need to get their computers and other business systems up to speed and able to deal with unprecedented change. What businesses are only just beginning to realize is that this is not enough: we need to help people get ready, too. Spencer Johnson has created his new book to do just that. The coauthor of the multimillion bestseller The One Minute Manager™ has written a deceptively simple story with a dramatically important message that can radically alter the way we cope with change. Who Moved My Cheese? allows for common themes to become topics for discussion and individual interpretation. Who Moved My Cheese? takes the fear and anxiety out of managing the future and shows people a simple way to successfully deal with the changing times, providing them with a method for moving ahead with their work and lives safely and effectively.

Forward The Story Behind The Story by Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D.

• "Beyond the Book" articles
• Free books to read and review (US only)
• Find books by time period, setting & theme
• Read-alike suggestions by book and author
• Book club discussions
• and much more!
• Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
• More about membership!

Media Reviews

Reader reviews.

Write your own review!

Read-Alikes

• Genres & Themes

If you liked Who Moved My Cheese, try these:

The Art of Happiness at Work

by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Howard C. Cutler, M.D.

Published 2004

About this book

More by this author

An exploration of job, career, and finding the ultimate happiness at work. An invaluable source of strength and peace for anyone who earns a living.

If Success Is The Game These Are The Rules

by Cherie Carter-Scott

Published 2001

Success both drives and confounds people from all walks of life, and this valuable handbook at last reveals the true power and meaning of this goal for us all.

Books with similar themes

Support bookbrowse.

Join our inner reading circle, go ad-free and get way more!

Find out more

BookBrowse Book Club

Win This Book

Bright and Tender Dark by Joanna Pearson

A beautifully written, wire-taut debut novel about a murder on a college campus and its aftermath twenty years later.

Solve this clue:

and be entered to win..

Your guide to exceptional           books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info and giveaways by email.

Free Weekly Newsletters

Keep up with what's happening in the world of books: reviews, previews, interviews and more.

Spam Free : Your email is never shared with anyone; opt out any time.

Sam Thomas Davies

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

Buy on Amazon: Print | Audiobook | Get My Searchable Collection of 100+ Book Notes

General Thoughts

A cautionary tale about the dangers of complacency and the importance of embracing change, Who Moved My Cheese? is a fun little read, although it offers nothing you likely haven’t read before.   

What Is Who Moved My Cheese About?

Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable about change that takes place in a Maze where four characters look for “Cheese”—cheese being a metaphor for what we want in life. 

The four imaginary characters depicted in the story—the mice: “Sniff” and “Scurry,” and the Littlepeople: “Hem” and “Haw”—are intended to represent the simple and the complex parts of ourselves. 

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.

Want a Free Copy of My Summary?

Who moved my cheese summary.

Sniff, Scurry, Hem, and Haw are four characters that live in a dark, elaborate maze, each searching for their own special cheese to nourish them. 

The mice, Sniff and Scurry, use the simple trial-and-error method of finding cheese. The two Littlepeople, Hem and Haw, rely on their complex brains to develop more sophisticated strategies of finding Cheese. But due to Hem and Haw’s beliefs, their emotions often take over and cloud the way they look at things, making life in the maze overly complicated and challenging.

One morning, both mice and the Littlepeople locate their favorite type of cheese at the end of one of the corridors in Cheese Station C. Every morning after that, the mice head over there to feast, waking early each morning and following the same route, establishing a routine in the process. 

In the beginning, Hem and Haw also race to Cheese Station C every morning. However, over time, the two Littlepeople arrive later and later, confident that the cheese will always be there.

One morning, the mice arrive at Cheese Station C and notice that there is no cheese. They aren’t surprised. Since Sniff and Scurry noticed the supply of cheese dwindling every day, the mice are prepared for the inevitable and know what to do. 

To the mice, the problem and the answer are both simple. The situation at Cheese Station C has changed. So, Sniff and Scurry decide to change. Before long, they scurry off in search of New Cheese in the maze.

Meanwhile, Hem and Haw, who have failed to notice the small changes taking place each day, arrive at Cheese Station C. Both refuse to accept that the cheese is gone. The two rant about the injustice of the situation and question how such a situation could have even arisen. Haw suggests a search for New Cheese, but Hem rejects his proposal.  

While Hem and Haw evaluate the decision, Sniff and Scurry go further into the maze and discover “Cheese Station N,” along with the biggest store of cheese the mice have ever seen.

Meanwhile, Hem and Haw grow frustrated and blame each other for their situation. Inspired by the mice, Haw again proposes a search for new cheese. However, Hem is comforted by his comfortable routine and rejects the idea once more.

After living in denial for some time, the Littlepeople go without cheese, growing weaker from hunger with each passing day. Finally, one day, Haw laughs at himself, realizing that both he and Haw keep doing the same things over and over again and wonder why things don’t get better. Knowing that he is finally able to laugh at himself, let go and move on, Haw enters the maze, but not before chiseling “If You Do Not Change, You Can Become Extinct” on the wall of Cheese Station C for his friend to consider.

During the next several days, Haw finds a little Cheese here and there, but nothing that lasts very long. Haw looks back on things and realizes that the Cheese at Cheese Station C had not just disappeared overnight, as he had once believed. Instead, the amount of cheese that had been there toward the end had been getting smaller, although he had been in denial about what was coming.

Haw decides he will stay more alert from now on. He expects change to happen and looks for it, and will trust his basic instincts to sense when change will occur and adapt as necessary.

After many empty cheese stations, Haw brushes aside his fears and decides to go back for Hem with the few bits of New Cheese he has found. Hem declines his friend’s gesture to leave, stating, “I don’t think I would like New Cheese. It’s not what I’m used to. I want my own Cheese back, and I’m not going to change until I get what I want.”

Dejected, Haw returns to the farthest point he had reached in the maze but feels stronger than ever, safe in the knowledge that he’s no longer letting fear rule his life. After finding little bits of Cheese here and there, Haw leaves a trail of writings on the wall to clarify his own thinking and serve as a marked trail for Hem should he ever choose to leave Cheese Station C.

One day, Hem discovers Cheese Station N, abundant with cheese, including some new varieties, and sees his old friends Sniff and Scurry. After eating, Hem considers returning to Cheese Station C to see if he can show Haw how to get out of his predicament but realizes that he had already tried to get his friend to change. Hem realizes that Haw has to find his own way, beyond his comforts and past his fears. No one else can do it for him or talk him into it. He somehow has to see the advantage of changing himself.

Finding the largest wall in Cheese Station N, Hem writes on the wall,

• 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.

Haw then hears what he thinks is the sound of movement out in the Maze, and as the noise grows louder, he realizes that someone is coming. Haw prays and hopes—as he had many times before—that maybe, at last, Hem has found the way…

Who Moved My Cheese? Key Takeaways

• There’s a difference between activity and productivity.        
• Getting out of your comfort zone makes adapting to change easier.                             
• Fear that you let build up in your mind is far worse than the situation that exists.                
• When you change what you believe, you change what you do.              
• The fastest way to change is to laugh at your own folly—then you can let go and quickly move on.
• You have to find your own way, beyond your comforts and past your fears. No one else can do it for you, or talk you into it. You have to see the advantage of changing yourself.                
• It’s safer to be aware of your real choices than to isolate yourself in your comfort zone.

Recommended Reading

If you like Who Moved My Cheese? you might also like:

• Eat That Frog! Get More of the Important Things Done – Today! by Brian Tracy
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
• Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear

Buy The Book: Who Moved My Cheese?

Print | Kindle | Audiobook

Related Lists 

• Business Book Summaries
• Psychology Book Summaries
• Self-Help Book Summaries

Or, browse more book summaries .

Who Moved My Cheese?

69 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 3

Key Figures

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, MD , is an inspirational advice book on how people and businesses can respond to changing times and situations by learning how to adapt quickly and successfully. The book centers on a parable about two mice and two people who live in a maze and search for cheese—the things each wants in life—and what happens when the cheese they’ve been enjoying disappears. First published in 1998, the book proved popular in both the business and self-help categories; it became a number-one bestseller and has sold more than 25 million copies around the world.

Author Spencer Johnson, with Kenneth Blanchard PhD, previously wrote The One Minute Manager, also a major bestseller. Johnson published several sequels to that book, along with a series of inspirational books for children.

Get access to this full Study Guide and much more!

• 7,850+ In-Depth Study Guides
• 4,800+ Quick-Read Plot Summaries
• Downloadable PDFs

The ebook version of the 2002 edition of Who Moved My Cheese? forms the basis for this study guide.

The SuperSummary difference

• 8x more resources than SparkNotes and CliffsNotes combined
• Study Guides you won ' t find anywhere else
• 175 + new titles every month

A group of classmates meets for a reunion. They talk about their lives so far and how they’ve dealt with problems and crises at home and work. One member, Michael , describes how his company almost floundered before he heard a story that changed his attitude and helped turn the company around. He tells the story to the group:

Long ago and far away, two mice and two very small people live together in a large Maze where they search for cheese. The mice, Sniff and Scurry , find a big stash of their favorite cheese; nearby, the “Littlepeople,” Hem and Haw , also locate plenty of “Cheese,” in their case, the things in life that people desire. They all settle in to enjoy the bounty.

The mice keep their running shoes close by and daily check the station for any changes—cheese going bad or running short—while the humans store away their shoes, put on slippers, and simply enjoy their pile of Cheese.

One day, both types of Cheese run out. The mice, who saw it coming, immediately put on their running shoes and begin to search the rest of the Maze for more cheese. Sniff smells where a new supply might be, and Scurry runs quickly to that area. Soon, they find a huge stash of cheese and begin to enjoy it.

Hem and Haw, meanwhile, are shocked that their cushy life has come to an end. Hem is angry and believes others have moved the Cheese. Hem also believes they’re entitled to their Cheese and should wait for the others to return it. Haw isn’t so sure and wonders if they should search for new Cheese elsewhere. Hem refuses to budge. After many hungry days, realizing that the Cheese won’t simply reappear, Haw finally heads out, scared and lonely, to search the Maze for more Cheese.

Haw soon finds bits of Cheese here and there. Despite feelings of fear and confusion, Haw finds that the search is an invigorating adventure and not at all a disaster. As insights occur, Haw writes them on the walls of the Maze, hoping Hem finally will venture out and use the notes as guides.

One day, Haw finds the giant Cheese stash where Sniff and Scurry now live. Overjoyed, Haw settles in but is careful to keep the running shoes nearby, in case this batch of Cheese runs out. Haw also takes daily tours of the Cheese station, checking for moldy cheese or other signs of impending trouble. Haw wonders whether Hem ever will venture out to find more Cheese and whether the notes on the wall will help Hem’s search.

On hearing this story, the classmates discuss how it might apply to their own lives. Michael is grateful that they appreciate the parable, and he hopes they’ll share it with others.

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now

Related Titles

By Spencer Johnson

The New One Minute Manager

Featured Collections

Appearance Versus Reality

View Collection

Business & Economics

New York Times Best Sellers

Self-Help Books

Trust & Doubt

• Book Reviews

Who Moved My Cheese? – A Modern-day Parable | Book Review

• November 2015

Discover the world's research

• 25+ million members
• 160+ million publication pages
• 2.3+ billion citations
• Recruit researchers
• Join for free
• Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

Filter by Keywords

Who Moved My Cheese Summary: Key Takeaways & Review 

Sudarshan Somanathan

Head of Content

January 11, 2024

At first glance, cheese might sound like an unusual metaphor for aspirational values like happiness, success, and wealth. However, when you read Spencer Johnson’s iconic fable, Who Moved My Cheese , you’ll understand why it’s the perfect one. 

Published in 1992, the book owes its enormous success to its simple yet profound message: change is inevitable, and our response to it determines our fate.

If you want to absorb the lessons from the book but can’t spare the time to read the whole thing, let’s take you through the Who Moved My Cheese summary.

Phases in the story

Symbolism in the story, 1. embrace change, 2. be adaptable, 3. anticipate change, 4. overcome fear, 5. enjoy change, 6. smell the cheese often, 7. innovate and experiment, 8. learn from change, popular who moved my cheese quotes, apply who moved my cheese principles with clickup, the way forward.

Who Moved My Cheese Book Summary at a Glance

Who Moved My Cheese is both an inspirational and cautionary story that revolves around four main characters—Sniff, Scurry, Hem, and Haw.

Sniff and Scurry are two mice 🐁 while Hem and Haw are little people 🧑‍🤝‍🧑.

All four characters live in a maze and search for cheese. But as they encounter changes in their cheese supply, each responds differently to them, with varying degrees of success.

Hem and Haw discover a vast source of cheese and settle into a life of predictable comfort, building elaborate routines around their cheese supply. Meanwhile, Sniff and Scurry constantly sniff the air, adapting to ever-changing cheese patterns.

One day, the cheese disappears. 

Hem and Haw are devastated, clinging to their past, blaming and fearing the unknown. Sniff and Scurry, however, quickly adjust and explore new tunnels, finding delicious new cheese. 

Haw eventually joins them, embracing the change and rediscovering his adventurous spirit. But Hem remains trapped in denial, refusing to move on.

The story unfolds in four parts:

Part 1: Cheese Station C

All four characters enjoy a content, stable life, happily indulging themselves in a seemingly endless supply of cheese from Cheese Station C.

Part 2: The cheese vanishes

As they enjoy the abundance, the characters become complacent, taking the cheese for granted. But that all changes one day, when the cheese mysteriously disappears. 

Though Sniff and Scurry had suspected the cheese supply was dwindling, its sudden loss comes as a shock. The characters are forced to confront the reality that the circumstances they relied on have changed. 

The vanishing of the cheese is a powerful metaphor for unexpected changes that we must all confront at one point or another in our lives. 

Sniff, Scurry, Hem, and Haw now face a choice: resist change or embrace it.

Part 3: Adapting to change 

The way the four characters respond to the disappearance of the cheese reflects their differing attitudes toward change.

Sniff and Scurry decide to venture deeper into the maze, searching for new cheese. They learn to let go of the past and embrace the unknown in the hunt for sustenance. Eventually, their efforts pay off and they find the new cheese.

Hem and Haw, on the other hand, resist the change. They mistakenly believe that someone moved their cheese and cling to the hope that the old cheese will return. For a long time, they struggle to accept the uncertainty of their situation.

Part 4: Enjoying the new cheese

The final part of the story focuses on Haw’s journey of adaptation. He learns to navigate the maze, leaving his realizations as messages on the walls. These messages share his insights on what it means to cope with change. 

Haw, too, eventually discovers the new stash of cheese, symbolizing a fresh opportunity or success. The experience of adapting and finding new cheese brings him joy and fulfillment. 

In this part, Spencer Johnson highlights the importance of:

• Letting go of the past
• Embracing change with a positive mindset
• Actively seeking new opportunities

It encourages readers to not only adapt to change but to find joy and satisfaction in the process of exploration and growth. 

While the book uses anthropomorphized characters most often seen in children’s books, it contains important lessons for businesses. Here is a breakdown of some of the key symbols in the book:

Cheese Station C: The station serves as a metaphor for a secure and predictable environment where individuals find satisfaction in their lives.

The cheese: “Cheese” symbolizes anything you value in life, whether it’s a secure job, a loving relationship, good health, or personal fulfillment. The two types of cheese, the “hard nibbling” for the mice and the “Cheese” with a capital C for the humans highlight the diversity of our desires and the subjective nature of what makes us happy.

Old cheese versus new cheese represents holding on to outdated ideas and habits versus embracing new opportunities and growth

The maze: The maze represents the environment we navigate in pursuit of these desires, filled with both opportunities and challenges

Running shoes: They symbolize preparation and readiness for change.

Sniff’s backpack: Sniff’s backpack serves as a multi-layered symbol of his preparedness and resilience in the face of changing circumstances. It can be seen as a physical manifestation of his experiences, adaptability, resourcefulness, or even emotional attachment. 

Haw’s “Write it on the Wall” messages: Haw’s “Write it on the Wall” messages illustrate his personal journey of coping with change, evolving from resistance to acceptance. Initially, writing helps him process his emotions and express his anger at the situation. At this stage, his messages are accusatory: “Who moved my cheese?” or “Why me?”

As time passes, Haw’s writing evolves as his thoughts do. He grapples with his fears and anxieties, writing messages that reflect his internal struggle: “It’s too scary in here!” or “Maybe the new cheese isn’t worth it”

Eventually, Haw starts writing messages that offer a glimmer of hope and encouragement. He acknowledges the difficulty of change but also recognizes the need to move forward: “No cheese here. Move on!” or “New cheese awaits!”

These messages are not just for himself, but also for Hem. Haw hopes Hem will see them when he finally sets off on his own journey of change. By sharing his lessons and acknowledging how one must adapt to survive, Haw documents his own journey of growth and paves the way for those who might follow him. 

His final message: “Smell the cheese often so you know when it’s getting old” is a distilled lesson learned from his experience. It urges Hem and the readers to be proactive, to read the signs of changing headwinds, and to recognize the inevitability of change.

The main message of the book can be encapsulated as follows: Change is bound to happen, and if you accept change and adjust, you tend to do well. But if you resist it, you might have to struggle to grow. 

Key Takeaways from Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson

The book attempts to leave readers with the following key takeaways:

Even when changes seem scary, you’ve to deal with them, and accepting this aspect of life sets you up for success. 

Sniff and Scurry embody this principle by quickly adapting to changes in their environment, always ready to move on in search of new opportunities.

Quick tips to embrace change at work:

• Cultivate a positive attitude towards change by appreciating its potential for fueling learning and growth
• Encourage open communication within your team to prepare them for change and discuss concerns and questions 
• Celebrate successful adaptations to change, creating a culture that values flexibility and resilience

The ability to adjust to changing circumstances is vital for finding “cheese” or success. You must remain open to new possibilities and learn new skills. 

In the story, Haw learns this lesson the hard way. Though he initially resists change, he eventually realizes that adapting is the key to finding new sources of cheese.

Quick tips for adaptability:

• Encourage a mindset of continuous learning within the team
• Provide the training and resources your team needs to enhance skills and competencies
• Foster an environment where experimentation and trying new approaches are celebrated rather than discouraged

Anticipating change is a proactive approach to staying ahead in a disruption-prone world. 

Sniff and Scurry regularly check the status of their cheese supply. It allows them to anticipate and prepare for any changes. 

This underscores the importance of staying vigilant and being aware of potential shifts in your environment.

Quick tips to prepare for change at work:

• Monitor industry trends and technological advancements
• Regularly assess the effectiveness of your current strategies
• Encourage team members to share insights and observations that may signal potential changes

A paralyzing fear of the unknown hinders personal and professional growth. 

Haw faces his fears by venturing into the unknown parts of the maze, realizing that overcoming fear is essential for discovering new opportunities and achieving success.

Quick tips to nurture a fearless workforce:

• Create a supportive, safe environment to help team members express their worries
• Coach and mentor individuals to navigate and overcome their fears
• Acknowledge and celebrate instances where individuals overcome challenges or fears

Rather than dreading change, learn to enjoy the journey and feel happy. 

The characters who embrace change find joy in the process, understanding that it leads to new experiences and opportunities. This mindset shift can make the journey more fulfilling and less stressful.

Quick tips to thrive in change:

• Foster a culture that values innovation and creativity
• Encourage team members to share success stories related to embracing change and treat each misstep as a learning opportunity
• Highlight the positive outcomes and growth that often accompany successful adaptations

Just like Sniff and Scurry, regularly monitor changes in your environment. This means staying alert to potential changes, so you can anticipate and prepare for the future. 

Keeping a watchful eye on your surroundings also keeps you primed to make timely decisions. 

Quick tips for staying vigilant:

• Implement tools and processes for continuous monitoring of key metrics
• Establish a feedback loop where team members can share observations and insights
• Conduct regular check-ins to assess the effectiveness of ongoing strategies

Experimentation and innovation are crucial for adapting to change. 

The characters in the story learn to experiment with different paths, discovering new routes to arrive at a cheese source. This illustrates the importance of trying new approaches and thinking outside the box.

Quick tips to encourage innovation:

• Set aside time for brainstorming and idea generation 
• Create a designated space or platform for sharing and testing new ideas
• Recognize and reward innovative solutions and approaches

Every change brings valuable lessons. 

As he journeys through the maze, Haw comes to realize the importance of learning from his experiences. Reflecting on the past and extracting lessons can provide insights that guide future decisions.

Quick tips to learn from the past:

• Conduct post-change reviews to analyze what worked well and areas for improvement
• Encourage a culture of continuous improvement by implementing feedback loops
• Provide opportunities for team members to share and discuss lessons learned from recent changes

The book’s powerful message expressed in a lighthearted story of mice, little people, and cheese, has captured the imagination of millions of readers from all walks of life. Here are some of the most popular quotes from the book: 

“What you are afraid of is never as bad as what you imagine. The fear you let build up in your mind is worse than the situation that actually exists.”

This quote highlights the psychological impact of fear and how it can make challenges seem overwhelming. By facing fears and recognizing that they are often exaggerated, you can approach challenges with a clearer mindset. That helps you overcome obstacles more effectively.

When you stop being afraid, you feel good.

In the story, Haw realizes that overcoming fear brings a sense of liberation and positivity. Fear prevents personal and professional growth. Overcoming your fears is essential to developing a sense of self-worth and confidence. 

Smell the cheese often so you know when it is getting old.

The characters in the story regularly check the status of their cheese supply to stay informed about its freshness. It reminds you that it is crucial to monitor and stay aware of your environment. Regular assessment helps you detect the signs of change early.

The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.

This quote is about the importance of letting go of the past and being open to new opportunities. Outdated or ineffective strategies can slow your progress. That’s why you need to constantly course-correct, even if change is unfamiliar and uncomfortable at first .

If you do not change, you can become extinct!

This quote is a reminder that resistance to change can lead to stagnation and irrelevance. Change is a constant, in business and in life. If you get stuck in your ways and don’t change, it will hinder your growth.

ClickUp, a powerful project management platform, is built on the principles espoused in Who Moved My Cheese . We understand how important adaptability, agility, and nimbleness can be in a fast-paced business environment. Here’s how ClickUp empowers change-makers to stay ahead of their tasks and the competition: 

Change Management Templates

You can customize ClickUp’s change management templates to suit your specific needs such as for process improvements or product launches. With these templates, you can track your change management initiatives and ensure they run smoothly, efficiently, and meet your goals.

• Define goals, track progress, and communicate effectively with stakeholders during periods of change by using these change management templates 
• Plan and implement changes seamlessly, ensuring that your team is well-prepared for transitions

Tasks to Track Different “Cheeses” or Goals

As you navigate business challenges, use ClickUp to create tasks to track the various goals or “cheeses” your team is working hard to achieve.

• Assign tasks to team members, set deadlines, and monitor progress. This ensures everyone is aligned and working towards common objectives

• Organize your goals and track progress visually using ClickUp task management folders and dashboards. These provide a clear overview of your priorities and help you stay focused on the bigger picture
• Break down long-term goals into smaller, actionable tasks to track progress more efficiently. As a result, your team stays motivated throughout their journey

Collaboration Features for Communication and Adaptability

Just like Haw scrawls on the walls of his maze, you too can distill your learnings and build a culture of healthy communication and adaptability with ClickUp. ClickUp’s collaborative features, such as Docs, ClickUp’s Communication Plan Whiteboard Template , Chat, and Mind Maps help you do that.

• Stay connected with your team, share insights, and discuss challenges
• Work together to navigate change effectively

Custom Workflows for Flexibility

Tailor your project management processes to fit the unique needs of your team using Custom Workflows in ClickUp . 

• Adapt your workflows as your projects evolve, accommodating changes effectively

Reporting and Analytics for Monitoring Change

Like the mice in the story, keep your ear close to the ground and monitor changes in your projects and workflows with ClickUp’s reporting and analytics tools. 

• Analyze data and trends to identify areas that require adjustment and make informed decisions to navigate change successfully

Who Moved My Cheese is a guide to navigating the complexities of change with grace and resilience. With ClickUp as your partner, you can create a culture of adaptability at work by embracing the key takeaways from this widely loved book.

Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.

Receive the latest WriteClick Newsletter updates.

Thanks for subscribing to our blog!

Please enter a valid email

• Free training & 24-hour support
• Serious about security & privacy
• 99.99% uptime the last 12 months

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

The book in three sentences.

Letting go of what we know is hard, but essential for growth and improvement. The quicker you let go of old things, the sooner you can learn new skills and create a better future. When you change what you believe, you can change what you do.

Who Moved My Cheese summary

This is my book summary of Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson. My notes are informal and often contain quotes from the book as well as my own thoughts. This summary also includes key lessons and important passages from the book.

• “What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?”
• “Taking action is key. Moving in a new direction can free you.”
• Moving past fear is freeing.
• Quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.
• When you change what you believe, you change what you do.
• Continue to explore and grow! Even when things are good.

Thanks for reading. You can get more actionable ideas in my popular email newsletter. Each week, I share 3 short ideas from me, 2 quotes from others, and 1 question to think about. Over 3,000,000 people subscribe . Enter your email now and join us.

James Clear writes about habits, decision making, and continuous improvement. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits . The book has sold over 20 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 60 languages.

Click here to learn more →

• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
• The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt
• Stumbling on Happiness by Dan Gilbert
• The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida
• Manual for Living by Epictetus
• All Book Summaries

Who Moved My Cheese: Summary & Review

Who Moved My Cheese teaches the readers human nature and self-development through a simple and entertaining parable of two little humans and two mice.

Bullet Summary

#1. act more, think less (ie.: we think too much), #2. don’t take things for granted (ie.: practice gratitude), #3. be prepared for things to change, #4. don’t cling to the bygone past (ie.: keep moving), #5. move towards your fears, #6. visualize your goals, #7. your life is the result of your mindsets and actions (ie.: take responsibility), real-life applications.

• Change will happen: don’t grow dependent on the status quo and be ready
• Don’t be afraid of venturing towards the unknown: the longer you live slave of your fear, the worse off you’ll be
• Sometimes think less and act more

Full Summary

About The Author : Spencer Johnson was an American physician and author. He wrote several children’s books as part of his series “ValueTales”. His most famous tale is “Who Moved My Cheese?”, which also happens to be one of the biggest best-sellers of self-help books.

As a parable, Who Moved My Cheese is not easy to summarize. So I won’t try. Instead of giving you the story, I will tell you the lessons learned from it.

Just keep in mind this is a novel taking place in a maze, with two “little humans” and two mice.

The maze is a metaphor for life, and the cheese is a metaphor for what we really want in life.

The mice in the parable always went back and forth looking for their cheese. The two humans instead, called Hem and Haw, plotted all kinds of strategies to make their search more efficient. All that thinking though didn’t really help them achieve better results.

As a matter of fact, it often only confused the humans more, and they would have been better off just scuttling around as the mice did.

Lesson learned?

• Think less, act more

When the humans finally found a reliable source of cheese they were overjoyed. Yet, little by little, they got used to it. They started it for granted and they even became dependent on it.

• Stay grateful and don’t become overly dependent on anything

One day the humans woke up, only to find out that their reliable source of cheese was gone.

It wasn’t really gone, the humans had failed to see that things were slowly changing. The cheese was diminishing and it was also rotting a bit. But they ignored the signs and clung to the status quo. They were back to square one, but now they felt horrible about it.

• Things never last forever: don’t grow complacent and look for signs of change

The mouses didn’t sweat the change. They soon got back on their feet and moved again. And soon found another cheese station.

The humans instead couldn’t psychologically accept the new reality. They clang to their old good past and revisited older cheese stations that were long depleted. It might not be a coincidence that the humans in Who Moved My Cheese are called Hem and Haw.

• Don’t cry over spilled milk. Roll back your sleeves and get going again

After their cheese was gone Hem and Haw were afraid of getting back in the game. They had grown too comfortable, or “mentally fat” as I sometimes call it. They were afraid of moving toward new alleys.

• The more you wallow in fear, the worse things will get. Move towards your fear and the death of fear is certain (cit.: Brian Tracy )

Eventually, Haw started visualizing himself sitting on top of his all-time favorite cheese. How wonderful life would be again? That gave him the strength of venturing out into new and uncharted territory.

My Note: 90% of self-help books tell people to visualize their goals. But repetition doesn’t make something that’s not (always) true, true. For more, check: self-help myths and pop-psychology myths .

While Haw got moving, Hem stayed behind instead. He kept sitting at the old cheese station, getting hungrier and growing more and more emaciated. Wallowing in pity and anger.

Hem’s life wasn’t easy. In the beginning, he wasn’t finding much cheese, but he was proud of himself whenever he could find any. He was growing more confident in himself and in his capabilities, also getting happier. Eventually, Hem found a new big cheese station (ie.: he reached his goal by taking action).

My Note: In psychology, the mindset of taking responsibility is also often associated with an internal locus of control , such as the belief that we can change our circumstances and we can change our environment.

• Your life is the result of how you react to failure

As someone said:

Judge me not by the times I fall, but by the times I get up again.

Who Moved My Cheese is a parable about powerful mindsets to adopt in life. It’s difficult to pick one as they are all great, but if I had to just go for one:

• Keep on Going

In the face of failure, don’t dawdle on the past. Keep on going. The world belongs to people who stay gritty in the endless pursuit of their dream.

Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”

• Little People Have Little Power?

Putting two people together with mice and giving them so little control over their lives didn’t seem to me like a very empowering metaphor. Sure, the attitude that you will always do your best is super empowering (and freeing). But oftentimes we can also do a lot to change our environment. And that didn’t shine through in “ Who Moved My Cheese “.

• Visualization Was Least Powerful Message

While Who Moved My Cheese shares a lot of very empowering mindsets, I personally don’t think visualizing is the most powerful way to overcome an impasse. Don’t get me wrong, visualizing is awesome, but I believe that visualization is only one of the many tools of mental power  (and possibly not the most powerful).

• Analyzing is Not Necessarily Bad

Analyzing the situation before acting can sometimes bring you much bigger payoffs.

Great Wisdom Who Moved My Cheese does a great job of outlining many of the typical human pitfalls.

Who Moved My Cheese leverages a fictitious story to share deeper truths of life.

In that, it’s similar to The Greatest Salesman in The World for sales books and The Richest Man in Babylon for personal finance books .

Alongside top reviews, it also had many bad reviews by people who are annoyed by the fable format and the repetitiveness.

And while I’m not a big fan myself of the fable format, “ Who Moved My Cheese ” hits on many key psychological pitfalls we all have as humans. And I think the author does a great job of mixing entertainment with important life and self-development truths.

Read more summaries or get the book on Amazon

About The Author

Lucio Buffalmano

Related posts.

The Shadow Negotiation: Summary & Review

Steve Jobs Exclusive Biography: Summary & Review

Make It Stick: Summary & Review

Username or Email Address

Remember Me

Search with any image

Unsupported image file format.

Image file size is too large..

Drag an image here

• Kindle Store
• Kindle eBooks
• Business & Money

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Audiobook Price: $11.81 $11.81

Save: $0.82 $0.82 (7%)

Buy for others

Buying and sending ebooks to others.

• Select quantity
• Buy and send eBooks
• Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Who Moved My Cheese?: An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life Kindle Edition

• Print length 109 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher G.P. Putnam's Sons
• Publication date September 8, 1998
• Reading age 18 years and up
• File size 1467 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

Customers who bought this item also bought

Editorial Reviews

About the author.

Called “The King of Parables” by USA Today , Dr. Johnson is often referred to as the best there is at taking complex subjects and presenting simple solutions that work. He received a B.A. degree in psychology from the University of Southern California, an M.D. from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and medical clerkships at Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic. There are over 50 million copies of his books in print worldwide in 47 languages.

Few names are as recognized in American business as Ken Blanchard ’s. His One Minute Manager® Library has sold millions of copies and been translated into more than twenty languages, and he has written or co-authored a number of other popular books as well. Ken is a captivating and sought-after speaker and business consultant, who has shared his unique approach with a multitude of Fortune 500 companies. Ken has received many awards in management and leadership. He has won the National Speakers Association’s highest honor, the “Council of Peers Award for Excellence,” and the Golden Gavel from Toastmasters International, and was inducted into the HRD Hall of Fame.

From AudioFile

From library journal, amazon.com review.

Dr. Johnson, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and many other books, presents this parable to business, church groups, schools, military organizations--anyplace where you find people who may fear or resist change. And although more analytical and skeptical readers may find the tale a little too simplistic, its beauty is that it sums up all natural history in just 94 pages: Things change. They always have changed and always will change. And while there's no single way to deal with change, the consequence of pretending change won't happen is always the same: The cheese runs out. --Lou Schuler

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

the most amazing things!

From the Author

Product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004CR6AM4
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ G.P. Putnam's Sons; 1st edition (September 8, 1998)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 8, 1998
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 1467 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 109 pages
• Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ B0012QX18E
• #3 in Human Resources & Personnel Management (Kindle Store)
• #13 in Stress Management (Kindle Store)
• #26 in Workplace Culture (Books)

Videos for this product

Click to play video

HONEST review of Who Moved My Cheese

Look what Marc found!

Honest, Unbiased Review of "Who Moved My Cheese?"

Marie Soukup

Who Moved My Cheese?: An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life

Amazon Videos

About the author

Spencer johnson.

Spencer Johnson, M.D., is one of the world's most respected thinkers and beloved authors. Dr. Johnson earned a B.A. degree in Psychology from the University of Southern California, an M.D. degree from the Royal College of Surgeons, and medical clerkships at The Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School. More than forty-six million copies of Spencer Johnson's books are in print worldwide in more than forty-seven languages.

Customer reviews

Our goal is to make sure every review is trustworthy and useful. That's why we use both technology and human investigators to block fake reviews before customers ever see them.  Learn more

We block Amazon accounts that violate our community guidelines. We also block sellers who buy reviews and take legal actions against parties who provide these reviews.  Learn how to report

Reviews with images

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

Report an issue

• About Amazon
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell products on Amazon
• Sell on Amazon Business
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Become an Affiliate
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Make Money with Us
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Amazon and COVID-19
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices

• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

• Alphabetical
• Cheeses by type
• Cheeses by country
• Cheeses by milk
• Cheeses by texture
• Cheeses by color
• Vegetarian Cheeses
• Cheese recipes
• Serving and storage
• Cutting tips
• Cheese and Wine Pairings

Book Review of "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Dr Spencer

Who Moved My Cheese? It is a fable about dealing with what, according to the Greek philosopher and essay writer Heraclitus, change is the only constant in life. Spencer Johnson describes four minor characters living in a labyrinth. And how each of them reacts when their cheese suddenly disappears. According to the author, when faced with this change, there are two strategies, they can either resist the change and suffer or learn to accept it and move on to something better.

How can anyone write a business book about mice looking for cheese? Even better, how does a book become a mega-bestseller?

That's amazing about Who Took My Cheese or Who Moved My Cheese. When it was first published in 1998, it sold 21 million copies in 5 years and tens of millions more copies after that).

Who is Spencer Johnson?

Spencer Johnson was a physician and author. He is best known for writing the book Who Moved My Cheese. Dr. Johnson earned his M.D. from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland after graduating with a B.A. in psychology from the University of Southern California. He also completed internships at the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School.

He served as Director of Communications for Medtronic, the makers of cardiac pacemakers; as a Research Physician at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies; as a Consultant to the Center for the Study of the Person; and as a Leadership Fellow at Harvard Business School.

What the point of Who Moved My Cheese book?

The book begins with a realistic scenario. In Chicago, a group of former classmates enjoys a high school reunion. They are talking about how all their lives have changed over the past few years. Then, one wants to share a story he heard that helped him deal with the change. And this is when the main story begins.

In another world, there was a maze where two mice and two little people lived. The mice were named Sniff and Scurry. The two "Lilliputians" were named Kif and Kof. The "little humans" were the same size as the mice, but their minds were like ordinary people, their thoughts and emotions often complicating their lives.

Sniff and Scurry. Sniff and Scurry spend most of their time going through their maze in search of cheese, going from one path to another, not quite knowing which direction has the cheese, often ending up in dead ends, but in these cases, they just have to turn back, and they will have another chance to try again.

Kif and Kof also spend their days in a labyrinth searching for cheese, but unlike Scurry and Sniff, their search for cheese is not for the cheese itself, not that they are hungry, but they are looking for it because they believe it can bring them happiness.

Instead of starting to look for the cheese, Kif and Kof spend their time thinking about how to find the cheese most effectively, how to see what strategies work, and dreaming about what it would be like to have that cheese. This makes them think they are more efficient, but they waste a lot of time dreaming and not doing what they need to do.

At first glance, and with our tendency to overthink and perfectionism, we might think that the Sniff and Scurry mice method is inefficient, but this is due to the sunk cost bias and that we do not realize how much time we waste thinking and doubting without knowing if our hypotheses are true.

These doubts not only waste our time in minutes, hours and days but can sometimes delay us for years because we always have a new excuse as to why now is not the best time to do it, without realizing that the best time to do it is now.

Although it is true that in a few years maybe we will know more if we use our time well, it is also true that the rest of the world will learn more and that we may waste our time during those years.

Thinking is fine. Trying to be more efficient and effective is an excellent idea, but sometimes it is much more important to be proactive and do.

Everything is constantly changing. It's just that we don't want to see these changes.

We are afraid of not knowing, and that fear sometimes makes us self-deceive and think that as long as we try not to change, things will continue as they are now.

But the reality is that no matter how much we would have liked or not, the circumstances to be the same, the truth is different. The world is constantly changing, and every minute that passes will be further from the previous one and the next one that died, so if we want to achieve something, the first step is to accept that every minute and every second counts and that it is up to us to make the most of it.

To explain this to us, Spencer uses the stories of Sniff and Scurry

After searching for some time, Sniff and Scurry found several pieces of cheese on one of the paths in the maze. When they saw the cheese, the mice took advantage of it, coming to eat when they got hungry, and when they didn't, they kept exploring. And when they saw no cheese left, they simply moved on to the next place and soon found more cheese.

In contrast, when Kif and Kof found the cheese, they stayed where it was and just ate and hung out there until a few days later, they got used to the fact that there was cheese, and they didn't have to do anything to get more cheese.

The problem was that they didn't want to accept that the cheese was disappearing and that they wouldn't have any more left in a few days. One morning they woke up and realized that ''someone had taken their cheese''.

Realizing that there was no more cheese, Kif and Kof became depressed and began to complain about reality and how the world worked, how it wasn't fair. Instead of trying to solve their problems, they stayed around the area instead of looking for new sites with cheese, simply because they expected the cheese to ''magically'' reappear.

As in the previous example, our way of thinking is much more similar to Hem and Haw than to that of the mice, unfortunately, and this makes it very difficult for us to accept when problems appear, and we try to deny them even though they are right in front of us, because we have already invested in doing something, and we do not want that investment to be lost.

In addition, we unwittingly accept habits with the least friction into a state of doing nothing so that we have to expend even more energy to do something new that can help us improve.

The reason Kif and Kof ran out of cheese is the exact reason why so many companies have fallen over time. They get used to things one way and act as if they will always be that way. This leads to new competitors that take them out of the market simply because they look at the situation and try to understand how to make the most of it.

Instead of locking ourselves in and trying to avoid change, we must learn to accept it as part of the process, as the stoics do, because only if we accept change will we have any chance of learning, improving, and adapting to the new circumstances.

As they say, the only constant in the world is changing. So let's stop kidding ourselves and start looking at reality.

The key is to keep moving.

Happiness and the feeling of being fulfilled may seem like something we can only find in particular circumstances, but this is simply because we tend to want the easy option and forget the remarkable adaptability of human beings.

Happiness, feeling full and fulfilled, are emotions that we can achieve in different contexts and do not have to be something we can only get in a single situation. We must be willing to accept the changes and make the best of each context.

There is no place in the world that is just for us, but there are many places that we can shape to suit what we want to be and where we want to go.

This is demonstrated by Kif, who at first always assumed a position of being a victim and hoping that things would work out for him, but who over time realized that the fear we have is much worse in our minds and that the more we face that fear, the less its effect on us will be.

As Spencer says in his book, the best thing about cheese is not that once we have found it we have it for life, but that we can always find more cheese. We just have to be willing to look one more time.

Loading comments...

• Cutting Tips
• Serving and Storage

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Cheese enthusiasts, join our newsletter for a world of cheesy goodness: expert tips, fascinating stories, and irresistible pairings!

Latest Posts

Make Your Cheese Tasting an Event to Remember

5 Delicious Cheese & Meat Pairings You’ll Love!

French Cheese Conquest: Culinary Heritage Explained

Love cheese? Use our large database to learn more about your favourite dairy! Fun fact: Did you know Pecorino Romano was a part of the staple diet of Roman soldiers?

1,963 cheeses

From popular Cheddar to exotic Shanklish and from soft to firm cheeses, you can find information such as Flavour, Rind, Producers, Fat Content, Type and Country of Origin.

Cheese is made for sharing. So share the fun facts and spread the deliciousness! With our expert tips, we guarantee everyone will be grateful for your brie-lliant knowledge. Fact.

CHEESE FACTS

• How to match cheese and wine?

POPULAR CHEESES

• American Cheese
• Blue Cheese
• Buffalo Mozzarella
• Caciocavallo
• Cream Cheese
• Fior Di Latte
• Goat Cheese
• Grana Padano
• Monterey Jack
• Pecorino Romano
• Pepper Jack
• White Cheese

2024 © Worldnews, Inc. Privacy Policy Advertise with us