What is all about "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Dr. Spencer Johnson

 ‘Who Moved My Cheese’ is a short parable about change, written by Dr. Spencer Johnson. Though some critics consider this book as useless, I found it interesting because of its simple and subtle way of conveying the ideas. Before I enlighten you about the story, onething which I must insist is, Whatever book you read, there are going to be so many interpretations. It’s always important how you read the story and how you interpret it. Who Moved My Cheese is also one such story where the reader has to take the responsibility of drawing in a lesson from the book.

 Click here to get your copy today.

Who Moved My Cheese is a story of four characters named Sniff, Scurry, Hem, Haw and their physical and emotional journey in search of their cheese. The story happens inside a maze where all the four characters run through in a search for cheese. Sniff and Scurry are two mice and the other two are mice-sized humans. Mice followed a strategy as they first test their pathways until they find one cheese, whereas the humans felt more sophisticated

Here the maze represents our world itself and the cheese can be interpreted into several of your needs. For example, for general readers, cheese can be their job, love, money, happiness, food, wealth etc. The story revolves around each character’s response over the change they had to encounter. This ultimately teaches you a lesson on how to react to a situation and how not to react, how your decisions and reactions over the surrounding can help you to live a stress-free and peaceful life. 

There are so many stories which talk about changes in your life. We are always scared of ‘change’ in our life and it always sounds serious. Now I can say that everybody would have a question for me. 

If the book is talking about the same topic which so many writers, philosophers have spoken about already, what makes this book special?

Here I will answer you what and why this book is special. Who Moved My Cheese? is a story that deals with the topic change in a funny way. There is some comic element in this story which attracts and involves readers so easily. 

The four characters Sniff, Scurry, Hem, Haw represent the simple and complex parts of human beings. Sniff represents someone who sniffs out change early, Scurry represents someone who scurries into action. Hem represents someone who fears and denies change. Haw represents someone who learns to adapt in time when he sees change can lead to something better. 

One day all the four characters went in search of cheese and they found a spot where cheese was in tons, which seems to be enough for their lifetime. Hem and Haw are so happy and arrogant that they have got a ton of cheese. Whereas Sniff and Scurry were ready for a change, even if their cheese went out of stock, they were ready to rediscover the cheese spot. 

One day when the cheese spot was empty, mice started their journey again because they foresaw this and they weren’t surprised because they knew this would happen. Humans were pretty shocked and disappointed because they didn’t foresee the change as the mice did. Humans were blinded by their arrogance and they were scared of what might be out there in the maze. So they were not ready to move from their old place.

They wailed, “WHO MOVED MY CHEESE?”

Hem and Haw decided to stay because they hope one day the cheese will appear there once again. They feel bitter and blame everything around them but themselves. They complain that they worked hard to find the cheese and deserve more. But even after a long time, to their disappointment, the cheese did not appear. So they started to blame each other. They even tried to dig over the wall expecting the cheese would be behind the wall. 

Haw finally convinces his partner Hem to come with him in search of cheese, which was a failure. Haw went alone and brought some new cheese but Hem did not eat that for he wanted only the old cheese. As Haw goes in search of cheese, he pushes back his fears and pasts and moves forward with bravery. He also learns so many life lessons, which he writes it down on the wall, believing that one day Hem will follow him and read through all the lessons.

We can’t deny the fact that the world keeps on changing, though whether we like it or not, change is inevitable. That’s why it’s necessary for each and everyone of us to learn how to deal with change. 

For further read, go check @nj_writeups on Instagram

Key Learning 

1. Do not blame others for your mistakes in life. 

There is a tamil poetic line, which goes like this,

‘தீதும் நன்றும் பிறர்தரவாரா’

            (Look for translation in Quora)

What this means is exactly the same as what this book teaches us. Whatever you experience in your life is just a consequence or results of your decisions, choices and actions.

2. Do not be lazy because it will lead you to nothing.

Laziness is a default human behaviour which everyone must overcome. Laziness is one of the seven deadly sins. You can also read about this in The Bible. Or if you’re a passionate movie watcher, you can also learn more about these in a TV series which is available on Netflix, The Seven Deadly Sins. 

“The more important your cheese is to you, the more you want to hold on to it.”

You need to work hard for what you want in your life. Hard work will lead you to greater success, whereas dreaming but staying lazy will give you nothing.

3. Make it simple, don’t choose complicated ways to get what you want.

Hem chose to drill the wall to find cheese instead of going inside the maze, maybe he could have found it in a short time but he decided to drill it out using his complex machines. But all his complex efforts were in vain. Humans always have a feeling of superiority and they believe that choosing a simple thing in life will make them weak amidst their surroundings. Results are always more important than what method you choose to attain it. If you’re going to choose a complex method for which can be easily attained through simple methods itself, you are going to waste your time and energy ending up being a fool.

4. Be watchful.

 

You don’t know when things change so be vigilant over your life. Anything can change over a time. Foresee things and stay alert so that it will be easy for you to adapt to the changes in life. Stay prepared as Sniff and Scurry as it helped them to find more cheese. Hem and Haw found it difficult to adapt for they weren’t mentally prepared for such a change.

“If you do not change, you can become extinct.”

No matter how hard we deny, we as humans would have always approached situations or problems like Hem. Don’t feel bad if you’re one such Hem, you can learn how to be like Haw. In such a situation, one needs to adapt to change and find a way through the maze to succeed.