"Who Moved My Cheese ? " by Dr Spencer Johnson is a self-help book on how to adapt to changes in work and life. People are afraid of changes. The book, with its four main characters, tries to represent four typical reactions of people to change.
The story revolves around Sniff and Scurry, two mice and Hem and Haw, two little men,who live in a maze. They search for cheese spending long hours on it. When they find cheese in a cheese station, they settle down and become arrogant. They establish their routine around the cheese supply. One day, both men and mice find out that their cheese has disappeared. Sniff and Scurry are the first to move on and they start searching around the maze. Soon, they reach cheese station N and find abundant supply of cheese.
Meanwhile, Hem and Hew are disappointed and angry. Hem asks 'Who moved my cheese ? '. They thought the cheese supply would be constant and when they were suddenly faced with no cheese they could not adapt. But soon Haw suggests to start searching for new cheese but Hem dismisses his suggestion and stay on. They soon start blaming each other for the lack of cheese and Haw once more suggests moving on. The truth is that Hem is afraid of the unknown corners of the maze. They remain without cheese. One day, Haw simply decides to move on and goes into the maze.
Still in fear Haw writes "What would you do if you weren't afraid? " and ponders over this. Even though he is afraid, he continues his track in search of cheese. On the way, he gets tiny bits of cheese which nourishes him and helps him to move on. After finding another empty station, Haw returns with bits of cheese to Hem, who refuses them.
One day, Haw finally reaches cheese station N, where he finds many kinds of cheese. Haw decides not to return to Hem, but let him find his own way.
In this story, Sniff and Scurry are more practical and they adapt to changes without resistance. They move on and take decisions quickly. But Haw and Hem are lazy and less enthusiastic in searching the cheese when days move on. Later, Haw regains the will to go with the changes and find new cheese.
" Who Moved My Cheese?" is a must-read book. It gives us a message which can be applied to our own life. What we could conclude from the book is that we must not waste time on just analyzing and pondering over any changes in our life but to take lead and act. People should cope up with the changes rather than resisting them.
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