1. 1-Sentence-Summary:
1.1. 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.
2. Favorite quote from the author:
2.1. "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" - Spencer Johnson
3. 3 lessons about cheese and what you should do when someone moves yours (with cheese being what we consider success.):
3.1. Thinking too much about your cheese might paralyze you, so just start looking.
3.1.1. 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.
3.1.2. The two mice inside of our maze are called Sniff and Scurry. They keep looking for cheese in a seemingly mindless and unstructured way. This approach actually saves them a lot of time and energy.
3.1.3. Hem and Haw, two little people, also spend their days in the maze looking for cheese, but because of their complex brains, they think a lot about
3.1.3.1. how they can find the cheese the fastest
3.1.3.2. which strategies will work best in getting through the maze
3.1.3.3. how to keep track of those strategies
3.1.3.4. what finding the cheese will feel like
3.1.3.5. when they’ll finally find it
3.1.3.6. …and of course, they wonder if there even is any cheese in the maze at all every time they turn another empty corner.
3.1.4. 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.
3.1.5. Humans are complicated beings, but that doesn’t mean we have to make everything complicated.
3.1.6. Be more like a mouse and just start running!
3.2. Nothing lasts forever, so keep your eyes open for approaching changes.
3.2.1. Sniff and Scurry soon found a big stash of cheese and they enjoyed snacking a bit of it every day. But the amount of cheese kept declining, slowly, but steadily. When they were about to run out, they decided to move on of their own accord and soon found another huge cheese.
3.2.2. When Hem and Haw found station C, they indulged in cheese every day and didn’t notice how it was disappearing. One morning, they woke up, only to find someone had moved their cheese.
3.2.3. This left Hem and Haw sad, and depressed. Instead of venturing out to find new cheese, they kept returning to the same spot, getting ever hungrier and weaker.
3.2.4. 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.
3.3. There’s always new cheese to be found, and the minute you start moving things will get better.
3.3.1. 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.
3.3.2. Haw eventually got sick of sitting around, so he decided to go looking for new cheese all by himself.
3.3.3. Haw started looking for cheese eventually, and his situation instantly got better. 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.
3.3.4. 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, and found new cheese.