What would you do if you weren't afraid? - My Review of Who Moved My Cheese?

For my first book of the year and as part of my reading challenge I decided that it would be a good idea to start with a " self improvement" book. My choice for this topic was Who Moved My Cheese by Dr Spencer Johnson.

This book was originally recommended to me around four years ago by higher management while I was working towards a promotion. I was lucky enough to get my promotion, but that came before I'd had time to read the book. It came up again just before Christmas when I was talking to a good friend about wanting to go forward and launch my blog and other things but was nervous about how it would go. My Friend had been given the book by a work colleague and had found it very helpful so she lent it to me suggesting that I give it a read.

I really enjoyed the way this book was written, it was almost as if you were stood listening to the story being told by a friend. I also enjoyed the fact that it didn't feel very "preachy" which I have found with other self improvement books.

The story follows four characters Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw and how the deal with finding cheese and then what they do when it runs out. The four characters represent different personalities, Sniff is the kind of person who permanently searches for new opportunities, Scurry is a person of action and is always on the go, Hem is someone who is scared of change and will stick to what they know over anything else and Haw is someone who is scared of change but will come round to it eventually and will run with it. I really felt like I identified with Haw, anytime I come to a point in my life where things are going to change I freeze up and panic, not wanting to go through with whatever needs doing (and yes this even includes when I have to upgrade my phone!). But once I get my head around what I need to do and how I'm going to deal with the situation, I'm absolutely fine and I then enjoy the journey.

Throughout the book, Haw writes things that he learns on the walls as a guide to Hem if he decides to follow, the one quote that really stuck with me was "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" It really spoke to me and I thought to all the times I put off doing things that I would have enjoyed or that would have enhanced my life just because I was "afraid". Going forward I will be using this question at times I need to make decisions to help me see if I'm resisting change for the right reason and I feel this will be really good for me.

If I had one complaint about this book, it was the fact that Haw wrote his quotes on walls as he went around the maze, I'm not entirely sure why, but this just didn't feel natural to me and each time he did it, I thought " why can't he write a note on a piece of paper" or some other option. Overall though, this isn't much of a complaint, more just a personal choice as to how to give the information.

I started this book on the 1st January 2015 and completed it on the 3rd of January 2015
I gave the book a 4 star rating on Goodreads, though I'd say it was more a 4.5 rating