‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ is a 90-page book with 4 characters. It tells the story of four characters two of which are mice named Sniff and Scurry while the other two are humans. The humans are the same size as the mice and they are called Hem and Haw. All four of them live in a maze. They all have to look for cheese every day in order to survive.
The mice work with a strategy of creating a pathway to lead them to one cheese daily. The humans, on the other hand, feel that they are more enlightened and as such work with no strategy.
In their constant search for cheese, they all find a lot of cheese in a particular place. They believe this cheese will last them for the last time and so they stay too long at that point.
The humans, in fact, become relaxed and proud showing off their cheese while the mice are more vigilant as they check their cheese to see if it is reducing. Just as they predicted, the cheese finally runs out. The humans, on the other hand, are more relaxed to even notice this. They keep looking for cheese within their comfort zone, they are too scared to leave the maze.
Hem and Haw, the two humans in the story keep hoping that the cheese will appear again. They believe they have worked too hard for the cheese. All they do is complain without taking action.
After waiting for a long time, they realise that nothing has changed. The cheese they have been waiting for refuses to arrive. This makes them scream angrily, “WHO MOVED MY CHEESE?”
The mice who have since anticipated that the cheese will finish eventually look for new ways to find cheese. They soon find a place filled with cheese of different variants.
As time goes on, Hem, one of the human eventually decides to leave his comfort zone by trying new areas within and outside the maze. He persistently tries to find cheese and eventually finds what he has been looking for. He, of course, reunites with the mice who have long discovered this new place that has a tremendous amount of cheese.
The story is indeed a very interesting one and is a must read for everyone.
Unfortunately, most of us are like the humans in the story, we think the world owes us, the government owes us, our parents owe us, the list is indeed endless. The truth is no body owes you anything. Whatever you are and whatever you will is up to you,
The following are some lessons presented in the book and the same is true about life:
- Change is Inevitable-the cheese keeps moving.
- Anticipate Change– Expect that the cheese can move anytime
- Monitor Change– Always evaluate the cheese to know when it is reducing
- Get used to change quickly– You can only enjoy new cheese when you quickly let go of the old
- Change: As the cheese moves, ensure you change your strategy even if it involves moving with the cheese.
- Enjoy change: Enjoy the adventure of discovering new thing (new cheese)
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