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Who Moved My Cheese: An Amazing Way to Deal…
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Who Moved My Cheese: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life (original 1998; edition 1999)

by Dr Spencer Johnson (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
9,145156866 (3.26)86
It pretends to be more profound than it really is. ( )
  Zcorbain | Sep 5, 2022 |
Showing 1-25 of 143 (next | show all)
NF
  vorefamily | Feb 22, 2024 |
Change for the cheese. ( )
  GDBrown | Feb 15, 2024 |
I got this book twice from the same company: when we merged and about six months later when I was RIF 'd. I hated it both times. ( )
  devilhoo | Jan 3, 2024 |
Deceptively simple look at how to cope with the inevitable changes in our lives, focusing on how to make those changes lead us to better things. Fewer words than the average pamphlet, and clearly aimed primarily at business people, this huge blockbuster of a best seller encompasses some real truths without burdening the reader with great complexities. That's probably why it's such a popular book, but the points it makes are very good ones. ( )
  jumblejim | Aug 26, 2023 |
Well, first off, I won’t go quite so far (not that it makes a difference) as to say that it’s mythology or folklore, but it clearly is a story and not a non-fiction category—specifically it’s general fiction, ie not ‘good’ lit, you know. (Oh, help me mommy, help me—the purpose of life isn’t happiness, as Aristotle himself told me in his book on ethics; it’s to brag about the books we read 😭)

It’s also not quite children’s lit, as it’s not really intended for children, being about financial success and its grown-up equivalents, you know, things that you don’t really have when you’re seven. But it obviously borrows a few leaves from the children’s book style, you know. It reminds me of something Louise Hay said: that life is basically a collaboration between the adult and the inner child. This was a revelation even to me. It’s true that so far I’ve both done some grown-up stuff, as well as let my inner child have some time to himself (I guess I often think of my inner child as Little Hermes, although I guess I sometimes think of them as being a bit of a Little Persephone, too), but alternation isn’t //quite// the same thing as collaboration, you know. You can actually be in the middle of doing something with the adult, and then let the inner child add something, you know, like, ‘Just let me have a cup of water now’, or just let up on me; don’t put me through my paces, you know. And despite the way I write (sorta the adult sometimes imitating the child, I guess), I do tend to put the child through his paces, and to assume he can make it through to his next scheduled break without any help, you know.

But anyway, life is a collaboration. That’s why I think it’s cool that the compliment came from a sportscaster—kinda a grown-up playing at a game, in a sense, if a verbal one, you know. (shrugs) So yeah.

Anyway, it’s a business fable, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

…. It’s too bad there aren’t quite enough sayings for a Who Moved My Cheese Oracle Cards, you know, only 15-21—depending on how you count that one page, but really that’s like about a third maybe of your average oracle card deck, you know…. Too bad.

Anyway, I guess the most important thing is that, it doesn’t really matter who moved your cheese! What matters is, change with the maze, and find what you need, right!

…. I know that the center isn’t the most popular place necessarily, but I feel like both the left and the right don’t necessarily get “cheese”, you know. The left, well, they go on and on, “Who moved my cheese” and with the intellectualism and the things that don’t matter, and the right, it’s like, “Who told Them, they could move my cheese”—it’s very often even worse, because it can be like, demanding, life shouldn’t change: when life is always always changing. (And then again, the left, claiming you want change while just noodling, not changing anything, right.)

…. Good thoughts, good visualization—but also action.

…. “Perhaps most important of all, he realized that there is always New Cheese out there whether you recognize it at the time or not. And that you are rewarded with it when you go past your fear and enjoy the adventure.”

…. But, just like it says, it doesn’t mean you have to change for change for change’s sake or even be necessarily changing in a visible/external way. But if your life is vital and has a quality of aliveness, there will always be subtle change on some level.

…. I’m not sure I identify as a Christian anymore, but:

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:52, NIV)

It’s also funny, given how often biological psychologists do work with mice and so on—sometimes one even hears about it!—how strange I guess it is, to actually imagine those little omnivores to be like us.
  goosecap | Aug 10, 2023 |
witty, insightful and sometimes downright correct. Spencer teaches you some really good management lessons using simple stories... ( )
  NitinKhanna | Jun 13, 2023 |
Going through all the books I read for school and this was on the list, I read it in 2010 for my Counciling 116 Career/Life Planning & Personal Exploration. As an older adult going to college for the first time, I figured this was a good class to start with and it was the first class I attended.

As required reading goes, it was pretty good. Basically it boils down to making the decisions to improve your life and change you career choices to improve your circumstances. It's pretty short, and if you are someone who is at a crossroads in their life, things have become difficult and you don't know where to go - career wise, then give it a read. I would say it's very inspirational. ( )
  Library_Breeder | Apr 28, 2023 |
Read the book in spring, and re-read it in June for an assignment. I think everybody should read this book, It is a very short read. Really, very very short. To get the full benefit, you should read it. Reflect on it for a while and re-read it. After that has been done. Who are you: Hem? Haw? Sniff? Scurry?

I was Hem, then changed into Haw. Now I am working on becoming Sniff and Scurry. Intrigued? Read it ( )
  Ivy_Skye | Apr 5, 2023 |
“Learn from people’s experiences in the past to create a better life for yourself in the present and future to come. Do not let your human emotions cloud your thinking too much. Remain upbeat and bless others lives as yours has been blessed. Remember time is precious so make every moment beautiful by not being arrogant, being adaptive conscious to analyzing new opportunities and experiences that await you under the blessings of God. Remember adapting to different styles of leadership is important. So learn, grow, and continuously change as each new language you learn is complete. Love yourself through the learning process and you will be blessed to see how much you learned through stopping, analyzing, and being positive in your outlook. Those who don’t change end up being stagnant. So change and bless others lives throughout your learning process by sharing what you learn. Someone might just be inspired by your learning journey. So keep learning, growing, and thriving. And manage yourself wisely.” ( )
  Kaianna.Isaure | Jan 12, 2023 |
Very easy to read book with a very easy to understand message. Maybe not everyone wants to see the message and some will think they are being patronized in a juvenile story about basic common sense.

But it's meant to be so simplistic that the thought is focused on the message rather than the storyline. You are sure to find yourself associating with three out of the four characters and although most wont admit to being the character Hem there are many out there just like him and stuck in their past.

So many people see themselves as flexible but back up their stubborn stance as expertise gained from experience. Well we would all be walking around in loin clothes and grunting at each other if progress was restricted by experience.

This short easy to read book is well worth keeping in your library to remind yourself from time to time how easy it is to get stuck in the past. I have my copy, and purchased this one for my 17 year old nephew to help him see how to move on and leave his childhood old cheese behind.

Change is often seen as a bad thing and although it's not always easy to accept, sometimes there is no alternative and the best way to deal with it is to make the best you can out of it. Surely good advice.

Not everyone will want to contemplate the message of the book and often the ones stuck in their ways will argue the toss loudest. But there is an audience for this kind of book and out of the 26 million people who have purchased it there are bound to be arguments on both sides of the fence. That's what having an opinion is about isn't it?
  Azmir_Fakir | Oct 31, 2022 |
It is basically a short parable on how to react to changing circumstances in a healthy way, while contrasting the common way that most take.
  JourneyPC | Sep 26, 2022 |
It pretends to be more profound than it really is. ( )
  Zcorbain | Sep 5, 2022 |
Its a great book to read as it gives deep insights in to human behavior with a simple story.
  rayravi | Aug 13, 2022 |
"Who Moved My Cheese" er létt aflestrar og skondin bók. Hún fjallar um breytingar í lífinu og hvað þær eru í raun nauðsynlegar og góðar fyrir fólk í stað þess að óttast þær. Þetta er upplífgandi bók. ( )
  SkuliSael | Apr 28, 2022 |
Actually a cute book. I had heard about it for years and picked it up at a free book exchange. It is a quick read about change and learning to adapt to it. When I was a kid, I was pretty good about change but I have gotten pretty steadfast about things as an adult. I have been working on getting better with change again and this book helped reinforce the need to do so. Everything changes and if we do not adapt, we suffer. ( )
  KyleneJones | Apr 25, 2022 |
Common sense lesson. Having trouble rating it as two or three stars, though.

17/9/20 "re-read"
This is definitely a two-star book filled with eye-rolling common sense. My job had me re-read this book possibly to cushion the change of my position title. (It's a way to convince me that it's not a citywide demotion on senior positions.) ( )
  ennuiprayer | Jan 14, 2022 |
amazing ways to deal with change in your work and in your life
  bubbly.lis | Oct 20, 2021 |
I really liked this simple story because it is so true about all of us. I am going to try to learn and apply this to my life. We all have to deal with changes and some deal with it better than others. This simple story helps explain how we should think about change. I strongly recommend this book. ( )
  GlennBell | Jul 14, 2021 |
Changes are inevitable in the blazingly fast-paced uncertain world. It is how we deal with those changes that speak volumes about our weaknesses and strengths.

I loved the takeaway of this book. "We should learn to anticipate and adapt to changes that transpire in our lives every day, or else we will go extinct by sticking to our old beliefs and resisting those changes". We should always be on our toes, start sniffing the changes around us, and be prepared to scurry past them. Otherwise, we will keep on hemming and hawing until we figure out that our "New Cheese" lies on the other side of our irrational fears.

I send my best wishes to everyone who is on the lookout for their "New Cheese". ( )
  pabitralenka | May 19, 2021 |
Loved this book! It was recommended to me by Koski (thanks, Koski!) at a time when I needed to make a life decision and it was extremely insightful and empowering! I highly recommend this book.
( )
  pmichaud | Dec 21, 2020 |
It's really difficult to evaluate this book ... on one hand, it belittles the audience, is mostly pages of empty fluff and makes a simplistic argument.

That being said, the core page of truisms is one that would be really handy to keep with me whenever I'm getting upset about change. It's nothing I couldn't logically conclude by myself, but when emotionally reacting to negative change I'm likely to lose sight of them and would do to be reminded.

On one hand, I'm more likely to read a tiny book and absorbe the clearly distinguished page of worth (one in which the author acknowledges the fluffiness as a method that works better for some than others) than just finding these truisms on an internet PDF somewhere.
On the other hand, I feel like this page basically tells employees to suck it and adapt whatever change comes their way. While this is true in many cases, there are often times where change is worth resisting, and this book does no job of telling you that resistance is a worthwhile response to change in certain circumstances. I feel this book really benefits employers in that they can expect their employees to blindly adjust to anything.

In conclusion, this book does remind you that there is a way to reorient yourself. On the other hand, it's mostly common sense and makes a very simplistic case. If the book wasn't so short I'd feel it was a waste. Given how easy it was to read (about a half hour) I figure it's a sorta-healthy snack of empty calories, like Smart Food popcorn. ( )
  NaleagDeco | Dec 13, 2020 |
I read this book ages ago when it had been recommended to my boyfriend at the time... he hated the book and I read it so I could see what he was talking about, lol. Of course, now I can't remember anything it said but was it a little bit cheesy? No pun intended! :D
  coffeefairy | Nov 21, 2020 |
It’s short but it feels like an eternity.
The antithesis of “show don’t tell”. I really don’t get the success of that book. ( )
  jbrieu | Nov 6, 2020 |
I had heard that this book contained some great insight about the need for change.

Instead, what I found was a simple and inane fairy tale that didn't really tell me anything I did not already know. Steer clear of this one. ( )
  reenum | Nov 1, 2020 |
Very easy & quick read. Make changes easier. ( )
  Sandy_B. | Jul 8, 2020 |
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