“Who Moved My Cheese” is a book about amazing ways to deal with changes that occurs in the lives and workplaces of both men and women .The book is written by Dr. Stephen Johnson. Dr. Johnson graduated from The University of Southern California with a B.A in Psychology, and also received his M.D degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Dr. Johnson has written eleven international bestselling books, and is often referred as “the best there is at taking complex subjects and presenting simple solutions that work”. Dr. Johnson quotes “Look at what happened in the past, learn something valuable from it, and use what you learn to improve the present’’. Who Moved My Cheese is an amusing and enlightening story of four characters that lived in a maze, looking for cheese to nourish them and make them happy. The characters are Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw. Hem and Haw “are little people who are the size of mice who look and act a lot like people. Sniff and Scurry are two little mice. Cheese is use metaphorically, which can be anything you treasure in life, and for some it will just be something there are used to in life. “Cheese” can be a job, a relationship, an organization, money, health, peace of mind, or even the world we live in.
Each character in the story treasures the cheese, however each character has a slight different approach to life and their individual approach defines what happens to them when the cheese runs out. Some people are content with what they have and resist change while others are constantly looking for new opportunities. According to the content of the book there are several sections to the book. There are “A Gathering, The Story “Who Moved My Cheese?” and lastly there was a Discussion pertaining to the story. This story is an excellent story that teaches one how to adapt to changes in ones life or workplace and I would highly recommend this book for persons experiencing a struggle with respect to change. It will certainly greatly alter the degree of satisfaction in one’s life.

The first section of the book “The Gathering” includes a brief discussion amongst former classmates, Angela, Nathan Carlos, Jessica and Michael at their class reunion. They spoke about trying to deal with changes they have faced in so many years after college. It was Michael’s life that was changed tremendously after having read this book. He simple narrates the book to his other mates.

As mentioned before there are four characters in this book. Sniff and
Scurry are the two mice who possess simple brains and good instincts. Hem and Hew are the two little people. All four characters ran through a maze looking for cheese to nourish and make them happy. The maze was described as being filled with corridors and chambers of which contain delicious cheeses. However in the maze, also exist a few dark corners and blind alleys which lead to nowhere.
Sniff and Scurry using their sense of smell, would run up and down in the maze looking for areas filled with cheese.
Hem and Haw were more complex that is they used an entirely different approach in locating the cheese in the maze. They relied on their brains to develop a more sophisticated approach, which made their lives in the maze complicated and challenging. They would all head for the Cheese station every morning in search of cheese. Cheese was in abundance for the first few days. It was a success to have found so much cheese thought Hem and Haw. To them the cheese was theirs, it was there to have every and any time they wanted it. Sniff and Scurry would on a daily basis inspect the area where they found the cheese, taking note of any changes that may have occurred. To Hem and Haw cheese was going to be available to them all the time. To their surprise it wasn’t.
All that Hem and Haw thought about was “Having cheese makes you happy”. Then one day when they all got to the maze there was no cheese. Sniff and Scurry both adapted to the change by deciding to move on further in the maze in search of a new pile of cheese. On the other hand they were so caught up in their arrogance, Hem and Haw didn’t notice that dwindling supply of cheese. When they realized that the large pile of cheese they had left the following day is no more they both throw two huge fits like little babies. “Who moved my cheese?” hollered Hem. This doesn’t bring the cheese back, yet they remain unwilling to search for new cheese. Hem and haw obviously got too comfortable. They never thought that one day all the cheese would be gone.

Change is inevitable and if one does not accept adaptation to change it can become difficult. In my opinion perseverance and patience are two key elements with respect to change. In Haw’s and Hem’s situation, Hem realized that he would have gotten lost looking for cheese once he left Cheese Station C, however he felt confident that eventually that he would find “new cheese” out there and that came with it.
Changes occur when both Hem and Haw are left behind. Hem is bitter and reluctant to leave the cheese station order to find new cheese. He is very stubborn and too set in his ways to make the necessary changes. His old cheese is the only cheese he wants and he refuses to leave the empty station in search of a new pile of cheese. He wants his old cheese back. It was his property. His behaviour simple proves that people stick with old ways of doing things because it is too frightening or difficult to change with the times. Hem and Haw would on a daily basis return to the Cheese Station, still expecting to locate the missing cheese. He is somewhat afraid to venture out into the other sections of the maze, so he waits with Hem. Frustration set in as they both start feeling the effect of having no cheese. Haw tries to convince Hem that they should leave that station in search of new cheese. Hem disagrees by saying “Maybe we should just sit here and see what happens. Sooner or later they would have to put the cheese back”. Haw’s desire to move was suppressed by Hem negativity. Finally, after being very hungry from the lack of cheese, Haw out of sheer desperation, decides to go search for new cheese. This takes a great deal of strength for Haw to face his fears and leave Hem behind. “If you don’t change you can become extinct”. Sometimes when one wait too long to make a change or move on so to speak, it becomes harder. This is evident in Haw’s situation when, it took him longer and it was more painful than usual to get through the maze. This was because he had stayed in Cheese Station and as a result of not having eaten any cheese for quite some time he got weak.

As he ventured out he thought that if he has decided the if he ever got the chance again, that he would get out of his comfort zone and adapt to changes sooner. Hem got confidence by telling himself if Scurry and Sniff can move on so can he. When things become monotonous, it creates a lack of interest and enthusiasm. Hence Haw’s writing on the wall “Smell the cheese often so you know when it’s getting old”. One thing to note is that admittance of ones problems is the first step to progress. Changes at times are not as simple as one wants it to be. Paralysis of ones fears results in retardation of movement. Movement in a new direction increases the changes of success. Being optimistic helps in creating a feeling of progress. Sometimes progress presents itself in stages. This is evident in Haw’s situation where as he move around in the maze he sees and gets excited as he notices minute pieces of new cheese. “The quicker one let go of the past the quicker it is to move on to better things in ones life. If one sits and does nothing, nothing will come one’s way, however if one “get up” and move forward results will surely be evident. Haw realized that having moved on from Cheese Station C, he found enough cheese to keep him moving and it gave him zest to keep on moving. A strong desire to move on gives on the energy and desire to move on. Once one moves on from the situation that there were previously in, it automatically makes one feels stronger in mind and spirit and helps one to cope better with changing. Making small steps helps one to adapt to the bigger changes that are there to come. Admittance as mention earlier is the first step to moving on, and nothing gets better until one decides to change. It is also important to note that after having succeeded it is always wise to keep pursuing new avenues and that it will certainly keep one alert and ready for any abrupt changes in life. “The Sky’s the limit”.

I will give an example of real life situation about change. I work at the Treasury Department for over eleven years. When I started working we had to do things manually, typing with typewriter and writing our work even writing cheques while other business places were printing their cheques. As time progresses the Treasury was computerized but we still had to do some of our work manually.
A Computer software “FreeBalance” was introduced by one of the Former Accountant General and he was eager to get the programmed started but unfortunately he retired from the service before the program got fully on its way. A new Accountant General was brought in but she along with some of the supervisors failed to adjust to using the new system while some of us adapt to change others are still making a fuss about using the software. Sometimes it gives us a little problem which we would argue that we want to go back to doing things the old way but if we keep doing that we would not adapt to change at all. We can now key in our salaries and merchant and pension vouchers at the end of all of this, these cheques would be printed and we will get our necessary reports at the end of the day. So all and all it is wise to adapt to change at an early stage because if we do not we would be left behind. In my workplace I gather that they are afraid to change over to the new system because they think that they would not produce enough work as they are accustom to do and because they are comfortable working in the old environment.
From reading this story I derived at the conclusion that in order to attain success one must not mix emotions while working, as emotional entanglement causes barriers in achieving goals. This entertaining parable illustrated, that sometimes we get to accustomed to our “cheese” being in a particular place and fail to notice when the supply is decreasing or is about to disappear. Then when we finally notice, we are often to frustrated to look for alternative sources of “cheese“, or else we eventually start looking while losing valuable time. Some people are however more assertive and prepare themselves for the inevitable after observing a dwindling “cheese” supply.

This book certainly illustrates how some people foresee that they are going to need to make changes in their lives. Therefore, they start searching for new alternatives before the change actually has to be made. I would like to end by saying that the only thing constant in life is change. In order to be successful in any aspect of life, one must accept change and adapt according to the situation.