Who moved my cheese summary will help you in dealing with changes in life. Here the book summary and lessons learned are provided.
How to deal with changes in life?
Whenever a change happens in our life we tend to resist it and fight it nut we never try to let it happen or deal with it. Here we will be covering summary of the book “who moved my cheese by Dr Spencer Johnson.” This article is inspired by this book and share various lessons learned from the book.
Who moved my cheese summary and lessons learned
Who moved my cheese summary essay
Who moved my cheese characters:
Two rats – sniff and scurry
Two small sized human beings – Hem and Haw
Finding cheese
The story starts with four characters, two rats – sniff and scurry and two small sized human beings – Hem and Haw, searching for cheese in the maze.
Sniff and scurry being rats applied their simple brain and started searching for the cheese, Hem and Haw being humans started to apply their complex brains and complex methods whereas the rats applied simple trial and error method.
All the four characters found station C where there was a lot of cheese that they will never have to search for it ever again. For the rats this cheese was just food, but for Hem and Haw it was the most important thing that bought them happiness.
They even wrote it on a wall “having cheese makes you happy”. And thought the cheese will last forever and they never have to search for it again. They become too comfortable that they threw away their running shoes as they will never need it again.
The rats were not comfortable and never thought that it will last forever. They measured the quantity of the cheese every morning. As a result they realized that the cheese is decreasing day by day.
Cheese vanished
One day the cheese vanished and the rats with a simple brain knew that they will never get the cheese back so stated to search new cheese they already expected this to happen as the quantity of the cheese was decreasing every day.
Whereas Hem and Haw didn’t expect it so they were in shock. They were not ready to accept the truth and kept on dwelling on the fact that how can the cheese vanish we worked hard to find it. Haw said someone else did this and we should get something out of it.
Struggling to accept change
On one side Haw was explaining Hem to forget about what happened and let’s find knew cheese but Hem didn’t listened. On the other side the rats were on their way to find new cheese and they found another station N where there was more quantity of cheese than station C.
Haw wrote on the wall “The more important the cheese to you the more you want to hold it.” One day while digging a hole in the wall to find if the cheese was hidden behind a wall, Haw started laughing and realized how much time they have wasted here. So he decided to search for new cheese.
Accepting the change
He gathered courage and took the risk of moving forward to find new cheese. This time he wrote “If you do not change you can become extinct” on the wall. And he thought he should have moved on earlier.
After some time he found another station with cheese but this time the cheese was very less, but he didn’t gave up he knew he will find new cheese so this time he asked himself what a person can do if he is not afraid.
He realized that some fear is good when you see what worse can happen if you don’t do something. He made himself a promise that he would expect changes and being ready to adapt.
Movement in new direction helps you find the solutions you are looking for. He finally found station N and now he was ready to measure the quantity of cheese and was ready to accept unexpected things. This story shows how important coping with changes is.
Who moved my cheese lessons learned
Change happens
You might have heard that change is the only thing that’s constant. So change is unavoidable we should learn to accept it and be willing to change.
How can we accept the change?
By understanding the purpose behind change, most of the time change is bought into action to improve a procedure or enhance a skill. We cannot change ourselves if we cling to who we are instead of who we want to be.
In the above story they didn’t expect any change so they were not able to accept it later. Anticipate that there will be a change.
Anticipate change
We are so adapted and comfortable in our lives that we never expect change to happen, it seems like everything will remain same. But the reality is quite different we are punched with some change every once in a while that we don’t expect.
How to anticipate change?
Expect change will happen. By expecting it to happen, you will recognize when the process of change starts and you will be ready to accept it and deal with it.
Be aware of your surroundings, know what’s happening around you and observe what has changed. Be ready to accept it or deal with it.
Analyzing trend is another way of anticipating change and knowing where it will lead and work on how to tackle it.
In the above story also the two rats expected change as they used to measure the quantity of cheese every day so when the cheese vanished they were not feeling as bad as Hem and Haw were. The rats quickly moved on and searched for new cheese whereas Hem and Haw kept on resisting it.
Monitor change
Dr. Spencer Johnson say Keeping a continuous record of change helps in monitoring it. You need to gain information on the changing situation on a regular basis. Keep smelling the cheese to know when it’s old.
How to monitor change?
By measuring the amount of change that has taken place and keeping a written record of that.
Keeping a record will help you gain understanding what is the pace of change.
How much time is left for the change to be completed and build a strategy around it.
Adapt to change quickly
Now that you have expected change, anticipated it and monitored it, it’s time to adapt to it. The sooner you adapt to it the sooner you can take action. For you to be able to make a decision and take action you need to adapt to it. Accept the change and let go the previous conditions or situations.
Accepting the change is something mentally strong people do. So learn how to be mentally strong.
How to accept change?
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See the positive side of the change.
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Realize how this change will improve your life.
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Talk to people that have experienced the same change and by focusing on what’s coming instead of focusing on what’s left behind.
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This is easy to do when you expect the change, expecting makes you ready and prepared for it.
Change
Now it’s time to take action and move with change. An individual need to be courageous and risk taker to take the actions that his/ her mind wants to resist. But if by chance you are late in executing the change you will regret it.
How to change?
Accept the change, set goals regarding the change you want to happen, make an action plan, take small and actionable steps at a time.
Being afraid can make you stick to your comfort zone and you might never change. But remember if you are late in accepting the change and acting upon it you will regret it later. When you are not afraid life is happier.
Enjoy change
Now that you have started the process of change, enjoy it. Have fun at every step, accept the challenge of change. Also learn what to say when you talk to yourself.
How to enjoy change?
Visualize that the change has taken place and your life has changed.
See what new things came across your life.
Challenge every step and conquer it.
By enjoying change you will become happy about the change and less resistant. You will come near to your goals regarding this change. Enjoy the risk you have taken to move forward with this change. Make your fear and change your two companions. This is how you cope with changes in life. You can also watch an animated video of who moved my cheese summary
Who moved my cheese Lessons learned
| Enjoy change | Meaning | How to do it? |
| Change happens | Change is unavoidable we should learn to accept it and be willing to change. | By remembering last time you thought everything will remain same but it changed. |
| Anticipate change | Trying to predict that change might happen. | Expect change and be alert of your surroundings. |
| Monitor change | Measuring change. | Keeping a record of changes that are occurring. |
| Adapt to change | Accepting the change. | By seeing the positive side of the change. |
| Change | Taking action towards changing. | Set goals and have a plan. |
| Enjoy change | Feeling good about the change. | Visualize how this change will improve your life. |
Who moved my cheese conclusion
Although everyone resists change but change is unavoidable. So to deal with it happily, practice these steps that are mention above. Remember the story of “who moved my cheese.” The sooner you accept it and let go what you had for what you can have life becomes happier.
I hope after reading Who moved my cheese summary you would be able to deal with the big changes in your life. You are free to comment below to give your suggestions, recommendations and feedback.
FAQs
Spencer Johnson, he was an was an American physician and author.
The author narrates a story of four characters who went to find cheese in the maze. It teaches 6 lessons on the how to adapt to big changes in life.
Change happens
Anticipate change
Monitor change
Adapt to change
Change
Enjoy change
I am currently pursuing MBA in Marketing and Sales specialization (2018-2020) from Amity Business School, Noida.
