Who Moved My Cheese?
by Dr. Spencer Johnson
Who Moved My Cheese was awarded Amazon’s bestselling book of all time and
has sold over 26 million copies worldwide. It is a parable about two mice and two
people searching for Cheese in a Maze. ‘Cheese’ represents the things we want
in life and the things that make us happy, and the ‘Maze’ is when we are trying
to find exactly what it is that we want. Everyone faces change, be that in their
job, their relationships, their health, or their financial situation, so everyone
needs to be prepared to accept change, expect change, take control, and move
on.
Who Moved My Cheese has four characters; two are mice named Sniff and
Scurry. Two are humans who are the size of mice named Hem and Haw. They
live in a maze and must constantly find cheese to survive. The cheese represents
anything a human strives for. It could be money, fame, reputation, happiness,
success, achievements, or anything else.
The mice have a simple strategy. They test each pathway until they find one with
cheese. The humans think they are more sophisticated. One day, all of them find
a ton of cheese in one spot that looks like it is enough to last them a
lifetime. They end up spending a long time here.
The humans settle down and slowly get arrogant. They show off their cheese and
brag about it. They take it for granted. They get stuck in their old ways. The mice
are always vigilant. They are ready to move on if the cheese disappears. They are
always checking to see if the supply is getting lower. One day, the cheese runs
out. The mice foresaw this, and they move on to discover more cheese.
The humans did not foresee this. Their arrogance blinded them to the slowly
dwindling supply. But they will not leave the area to look for more. They are
fearful of what is out there in the maze. They have gotten used to their old
habits. They have started to believe they were entitled to the cheese. They
scream angrily, “WHO MOVED MY CHEESE?”
Hem and Haw decide to stay because they hope the cheese will appear there
once again. They get bitter and blame everything but themselves. They complain
that they worked hard to find the cheese and deserve more. After a long time,
their situation has not changed; no new cheese has appeared. They blame each
other for their problems. They start using sophisticated tools to dig behind the
walls because they think the cheese might be behind there.
Eventually, Haw gets smart and decides to explore the maze for more cheese.
He tries to convince his partner to go with him, but he will not. He finds tiny bits
of a new type of cheese in the maze, which he brings back to Hem, but Hem
refuses to eat it because he only wants the old type of cheese. He has grown
accustomed to what he is used to.
Haw keeps exploring since these tiny bits are not enough to sustain him. As he
journeys to new areas of the maze, he pushes past his fears and learns many life
lessons. He writes a few lessons on the wall from time to time to encourage
himself to move forward and for Hem if he ever decides to follow him. He finally
finds a new place deep in the maze that has a ton of cheese, including all sorts
of new types. He meets Sniff and Scurry again, who arrived here long before he
did.
He writes all the lessons he wrote earlier on a big wall:
• Change Happens They Keep Moving the Cheese
• Anticipate Change Get Ready for The Cheese to Move
• Monitor Change Smell the Cheese Often So You Know When It Is
Getting Old
• Adapt to Change Quickly the Quicker You Let Go of Old Cheese, The
Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese
• Change Move with The Cheese
• Enjoy Change! Savor the Adventure and Enjoy the Taste of New
Cheese!
• Be Ready to Change Quickly and Enjoy It Again They Keep Moving the
Cheese.
He now regularly explores new parts of the maze and monitors the cheese
supply, so the same thing does not happen again. He decides it is best to let Hem
find his own way to him; he realizes Hem must change on his own.
Here are some lessons to learn from this book:
• Do not get bitter and blame anyone or anything else for where you are in
life. Whether it is fair or not, you must take your own initiative and improve
your circumstances. Sitting there pitying yourself will not change anything.
• Humans tend to get lazy and used to old habits. In Hem’s case, he did not
even deserve a lifetime supply of cheese. But over time, he got so used to his
luxurious life that he convinced himself he was entitled to all these things,
like a spoiled brat. This is a classic human behavior we should avoid. Keep
tabs on yourself so it does not happen to you.
• Do not over-complicate things. Do not use complexity to run from what you
do not want to do. Humans tend to think they are superior because of how
we can use our brains to do overly complex things. But this can
backfire. Sometimes, the best solutions are simple, but not too simple or
complicated.
Hem chose to build these complex drilling machines to drill the walls for cheese
rather than face his discomfort and go explore for new cheese. He put in three
times the work for none of the payoff. See how you can apply this to your own
life. Are you looking up complex diet strategies when you just need to start going
to gym?
• Always stay vigilant and prepare for the inevitable. Sniff and Scurry stayed
mentally prepared for the inevitable task of finding more cheese. Hem and
Haw got complacent and rooted in their old routines when they were
successful already.
• Prepare for the unknown negative events of your future. Hem and Haw
counted too much on their lifetime supply of cheese to last them and they
got lazy. Don’t count on things to be too constant. You never know when life
might hand you unfortunate news. There’s politics, war, and illness out there.
While this applies to your personal life, it also clearly applies to business. If you
look at the business history of almost any industry, you’ll realize how things can
change for the worse, even if you seem to be so successful and happy.
• Monitor change. Prepare for change. Change quickly. Adapt. And Enjoy
Change. If you’re operating a business, work like someone’s trying to put you
out of business because someone eventually will.
• Never have a victim mentality. Hem and Haw do what most humans do,
which is slowly become entitled to things they shouldn’t be. When things got
tough, they blamed everything but themselves for their problems. They acted
like they were entitled to something they weren’t entitled to.
• Do not get settled on old routines or ways of doing things. Do not let fear
paralyze you. In the story, Hem discovered that what he imagined would
happen was always much worse than what occurred. Fear can paralyze you
from moving forward. Do not let it. Hem almost let it, but he pushed forward.
“If you keep doing what you’ve always done, don’t
expect different results.”
