Who Moved My Cheese?

I just read Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, M.D. Here is a quick synopsis of the book.

The book is a short story followed up by a group's reaction from hearing the story. Story is of two mice and little people in maze. The names of the mice are Sniff and Scurry, the little people are Hem and Haw. Like most mice in a maze, their goal is to find cheese. At about the same time, all four find a cheese that they declare their cheese. Hem and Haw settle down and take off their running shoes to hang them up. To really settle in, they start building houses and buildings around the cheese. Mean while Sniff and Scurry just take their running shoes off, and tie them around their neck. Over time the cheese starts to disappear from it being eaten. Now this is where the meat of the story can be found.

Sniff and Scurry are mice and react only on impulse. So they untie their shoes from their neck, re-lace up and head off for more cheese. Scurry running blindly and Sniff shortly behind following his senses. Meanwhile Hem and Haw wake up to find the cheese missing. They assumed that it has just been moved. Even though it had been vanishing, they believe that it will come back. Over the next few days they try many things to get the cheese to return or find where it had moved. All the while Sniff and Scurry had already found a new stockpile of cheese, bigger than they had ever seen.

Finally after a few days, Haw went looking for his shoes to move on find more cheese. Hem sat around and complained about being too old, not needing to change, and how it wasn't fair that he needed to change. Haw went on without him. As Haw explored, he realized that he was afraid of being alone and went back to Hem with the little bit of cheese that he found. Using this he tried to convince Hem that there were other cheeses out there. The cheese might not be the same, but there was cheese to be found. Hem wanted nothing to do with it. Hem felt entitled to his old way of life and refused to change. Haw left him behind.

Haw left, looking for find more cheese out in the world. After another day or two, Haw found a couple familiar faces; Sniff and Scurry. Behind them, the biggest pile of cheeses he'd ever seen. Haw then took of his shoes, and tied the laces around his neck, so that when he saw change coming, he could get on his feet and go.

The point of this story is that you must be ready for change. It will happen, and there is nothing you can do about that. Your role might change, your market may crash, or your venue changes. If you stick around thinking your cheese is coming back, you will be left behind. Part of Hem and Haw's problem was that they got complacent and didn't bother watching for signs of change. The cheese was getting old and moldy yet they kept eating. When the cheese started getting down to its last few bites, Sniff and Scurry took off to find more cheese. Hem and Haw waited until the cheese was gone.

So let's look at this in business terms. If your skills are in say COBOL, and you see that the market is starting to value C# developers you have three choices;

1. Learn C# that you can stay employed
2. Move to where your skills are needed
3. Do nothing and starve.

This is a pretty big example. The more likely scenario will be that your role will change in the company you work for. It might be something that you want nothing to do with, or isn't your strong suit. You can complain about it until you are relieved of your duties, or you can become awesome at your new role. By trying to find your new cheese, you will end up being rewarded with more cheese. And if your current job won't value your new abilities, well there is somebody who will. And it might be time to find that new cheese.

Ultimately the story is about doing what makes you happy and what makes you grow. For Sniff and Scurry, it ended up just being able to eat. Haw, began to love the quest for finding more cheeses. Hem, remained unhappy and bitter refusing to change anything to make life better. Haw even tried to get Hem to come with him, but Hem refused. This came to the hardest lesson of the book; When to leave old friends behind. There will be a time that you have to eliminate the negative people from your life. These people will slow you down, and blind you from your surroundings changing around you. You can try and help these people, but ultimately they will be a poison to you and those around you.


So there you go, Who Moved My Cheese. This was a very quick read, about 45 minutes to finish. I would recommend you read it at least once and think about all the things in life that you just deal with, and if maybe you should try and find a new cheese.