If you are like me (before I read this book) - you believe that Self-Help books are for ’’losers’’. (Losers are people who dont have it in them ; people who just keep moaning about life and how external factors prevented them from ’’making it’’). This little book made me sit up and acknowledge how wrong I was.
Every one needs help at some stage of his/her life. I dont mean financial help - I mean good old morale boosting help. And if you dont have a best friend....if you dont have that special someone (lover/wife/parent/sibling/mentor) to give you that morale boosting talk....never fear.....’’Who moved my Cheese’’ is here!
Read this little book with an open mind - read it with an open heart. I am not saying that the book WILL change your life. All I am saying is that it CAN change your life IF you give it a chance. And if you are the cynical sort and believe that you dont need advice, then fine you have wasted a few minutes of your life on a worthless book...no big deal....no harm done.
’’Who moved my Cheese?’’ is written by Dr. Spencer Johnson. Quoting from the book’s site, ’’ http://www.whomovedmycheese.com’’ (what else could it be called!), 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’’. So to answer the pompous question normally put by a cynic, ’’Is the guy qualified to write a self help book that will help ME (who says I need help anyway)?’’ - yes he is. If you have any doubts about Dr. Johnson or the book itself (how many copies it has sold, blah blah blah) - check out the site.
Moving on to the book itself - its about mice. Wait a minute, you say, did u say mice? Yes...mice. But the mice arent really mice....they represent people - not specific people but types of people. Four little mice named very appropriately ’’Sniff’’, ’’Scurry’’, ’’Hem’’ and ’’Haw’’, between themselves represent the human race and their quest for ’’success’’. The cynic reading this will no doubt argue that you cant possibly club all humans in just four groups. Relax, pal. Like I said...keep an open mind. Give the book a chance...ok? Coming back to our friendly neighbourhood mice, they spend their lives looking for cheese. Again, cheese is a representation of ’’success’’ - the reader should substitute ’’cheese’’ with his/her goal(s) in life....you see everyone has a different view of what constitutes ’’success’’. Right, so our mice are looking for ’’cheese’’ which they THINK (the cynical mice KNOW) will keep them happy. They live in a maze which represents the world WE humans live in. Each of the mice has a different method of finding his cheese and each finds his own ’’stash’’ of special cheese - THEIR kinda cheese. They settle into a rhythm - each morning they wake up and go to their cheese. And thats how life is, isnt it? We eventually either find nearly everything we look for in life or if we dont, we compromise and we settle down happily (or unhappily). Basically, we take things for granted, dont we? Now comes the twist. One fine day, our mice set off for their cheese only to find that the cheese isnt there any more. You guessed it....someones MOVED the cheese! The mice dont know who moved it or where its gone - it could be anywhere in the maze. How each of the mice reacts to this ’’unforseen’’ situation, is what this book is about.
The beauty of this book is its simplicity. The use of mice makes the book childlike and thats what the author wants. Become a child when you read this book because only as a child will you have an open mind. The book attempts to pose (and answer) various questions. Which of the mice are YOU similar to? Are you simple minded and uncomplicated like ’’Sniff’’ and ’’Scurry’’? Or are you complex and complicated like ’’Hem’’ and ’’Haw’’? How do YOU manage change? Are YOU ready for change? What would YOU do if YOUR cheese was moved? And the most important question is.....Are you ready for the day your cheese is moved? Because my friend, YOUR cheese WILL move. Will you panic and give up like ’’Haw’’? Or will you analyze the situation and take control like ’’Hem’’? Or will you just move onto new cheese like ’’Sniff’’ and ’’Scurry’’?
Read the book to answer these questions.... maybe it will change your life as it did mine. After all (and here I ’’change’’ Benjamin Franklin’s quote a bit)...in this world, nothing is certain but death, taxes and change.
Mr. Cynic , you arent going to argue about this as well, are you? Are you saying that nothing in your life will EVER change? In which case, I wish you the best of luck, my dear chap!
As for the rest of you, after you’ve read the book and analysed it, do ask yourself (quoting from the book) this question whenever faced with a tough
’’real life’’ situation...’’What would you do if you weren’t afraid’’?