Spencer Johnson - Who Moved My Cheese?
"What would you do if you weren't afraid?"
Spencer Johnson.
August, time for books and reading on the beach and despite the holidays I didn't want to miss the appointment with the book of the month. For this month I have chosen a very simple and fluent book, but whose message is extremely powerful. I'm talking about Spencer Johnson's best seller: "Who moved my cheese?".
I first read this book during a phase of my life marked by major changes: Johnson's simple and fairytale style helped me to assimilate some fundamental lessons on change right away, which I am sure will be of great help to you too. But let's immediately get to know the author and his book better.
The author
What I love about Spencer Johnson and his “personal growth tales” is the ability to deal with complex topics in a simple way, offering practical and immediate application solutions.
Born in the United States in 1940, Dr. Johnson received his BA in Psychology in 1963 from the University of Southern California and after graduation from the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School, served as Medical Director at Medtronic and later as advisor at Harvard Business School.
In addition to his most famous best seller "Who Moved My Cheese?", Dr. Johnson has written 10 other books including: "The one minute manager", among the reference books for managers around the world and " The ups and downs of life “, a book to transform times of crisis to one's advantage. Each of his books immediately proved to be an editorial success: a coincidence?
But now let's see what his most famous book is about: “Who moved my cheese?”.
The book
Spencer's short essay focuses on the adventures of 4 characters: the mice Nasofino and Trottolino and the gnomes Tentenna and Ridolino. The 4 protagonists, after having found what would seem an inexhaustible supply of cheese, stop engaging in the search for food, taking for granted the availability of the cheese; This false security proves extremely dangerous: without our little friends noticing it, the supply of cheese becomes thinner and thinner, until one day it disappears completely.
The fable is a splendid one parable of many of the changes that happen to us in life: the loss of a loved one, of an economic security, of a love. When these changes occur, we begin to idealize the past and get terrified of the present and the future.
As said, even in its simple style, "Who moved my cheese?" it conveys a very powerful message, which can be summarized in a sentence that Ridolino writes on the wall of the labyrinth: “If you don't change, you risk disappearing”.
Why you should read it
The fear of change comes from ours attachment to things, people and situations: when we understand that nothing is forever and that change is the only constant in our life, we are seized by an immediate sense of lightness. Stress disappears, and what we gave more weight to than necessary quickly fades into the background, letting us enjoy the little pleasures of life. I recently posted a sentence on Twitter that summarizes this concept well:
Nothing can drag you down if you are not tied to it.
I am also convinced that certain books arrive when we are ready to understand them I lunge: if you are going through a period marked by major changes, I suggest you to read the book of dr. Spencer and start living more lightly, aware that every change is there end of something, but at the same time it is also thestart of something else. Enjoy the reading ;-)
Spencer Johnson - Who Moved My Cheese?
Ps. I don't think I will publish any more articles in August, also because I will be abroad. I take this opportunity to wish you happy holidays again. See you again in September ... with some good news ;-)
