Who Moved My Cheese?
Book review by Catherine Udogie
The title of this book is the reason why a lot of people never bother to give it any attention. I must confess that I was one of them. However, watching the short video opened up my eyes and mind to the wisdom and insight the author put into this book. It is a MUST read.
The lessons you draw from this book are lessons that help you in life-long learning situations. The book simply explains the essence of how to adapt to change, which should be in all parts of your life. It teaches you to be ready for change and challenges and to embrace change long before it occurs.
The authors of the story have used the cheese in the book to represent anything a human tries to get. It could be money, fame, reputation, happiness, success, achievements, or anything you strive for in life. The following statement sums it all up: Anticipate change. Adapt quickly to change. Monitor change. And keep a change mindset.
- If you have a job, develop your network so you’re prepared for the unexpected. And the best time to prepare is when you don’t have to.
- If you’re operating a business, work like someone is trying to put you out of business because someone eventually will.
The story
The book is written as a parable. The book has 4 characters, 2 mice named Sniff and Scurry and 2 human miniatures named Hem and Haw. The 4 of them lived in a maze and had to constantly find cheese as food to survive. The mice had a very simple strategy: always be in a constant search to find leads to cheese locations. The humans, however, felt their better skills would always get them cheese to survive.
One day, they found tons of cheese in one spot and it looked big enough to last them a lifetime. But that was not to be, because in a short time the mountain of cheese was all gone. The humans and the mice responded differently to the challenge. As soon as the cheese started running out, the mice moved on to find new cheese because they had realized it was running out. But the humans just started complaining and trying to find more cheese in the same spot because they never planned or anticipated that someday there would be none left.
After a long time of remaining in the same situation with no progress, one of the humans, Hem, got uncomfortable and decided to explore the maze further. However, his friend Ham would not move. As Hem travelled through the maze in search of new cheese, he started having an open mindset to change. He forgot his fears and kept looking for new cheese until one day he found a new stock of cheese within the maze and found that the mice, Sniff and Scurry were already there.
This time, Hem learned from his experience searching for a new stock of cheese and he decided to change his ways and keep an anticipation and change mindset like the mice. This time around he was constantly checking the stock level rather than becoming comfortably settled. He also decided not to keep trying to convince Ham because Ham refused to adapt a change mindset. He felt Ham needed to come to that realization by himself.
Take away lessons
- Don’t get bitter and blame anyone or anything for where you are in life
- Don’t get stuck with old habits because it does not give a different result
- Don’t complicate things because the solutions are usually very simple
- Don’t let fear paralyze you from discovering new ways of doing things
- Always stay vigilant and anticipate the inevitable otherwise you become extinct
- Prepare for the unknown negative events of your future because they will surely come
