There are so many books recommendable for personal development but today I'll stick to Dr Spencer Johnson's "who moved my cheese?
Yeah the title gets one wondering.."who moved my cheese?"
Cheese? what cheese?
Dr Spencer Johnson wrote this book to help him deal with a difficult change in his life, and now the book is helping change many people's lives across the world. What matters is not in the story of 'who moved my cheese' but the way one interprets and apply the story to their own situations in life.
It is indeed true that ...
"Life is no straight and easy corridor along which we travel free and unhampered, but a maze of passages" A.J. Cronin
Cheese is being used as a metaphor for what you have in life, for example, a job, a relationship money, health or anything that maybe of value to you. The maze is where you look or search for what you want out of life.
Characters in this book are made up of Mice named "Sniff" and "Scurry" and Little people, who were beings small as mice but looked and acted like people today. Their names were "Hem" and "Haw". So everyday the Mice and the little people spent their time in the Maze looking for cheese.The Mice with good instincts and simple minds, looked for the hard nibbling cheese that they liked. The Little people on the other hand, used their complex brains, filled with many beliefs and emotions, searched for a different kind of cheese with a capital C, which they believed would make them feel very happy and successful. Of course in a maze one is bound to get lost, but the Mice.used the simple trial and error method of finding the cheese. In a little while both the Mice and the Little people found the cheese with a capital C( Cheese at station C). They had both found the cheese, The Mice's approach to accessing the cheese did not change at all, they went on with their normal routine. But the little people woke up a little later, dressed slowly and walked to cheese Station C to get the cheese. They were so comfortable now that they had found the cheese. After a while, their confidence grew in to arrogance of success.
The Mice on the other hand continued with their routine. They arrived early and inspected Cheese station C to see if there were any changes in the area, that's when they can sit down and nibble on the cheese. One morning they discovered that there was no cheese at all. But they were not surprised since all along they had been inspecting the station, and realised that the supply of cheese was declining by day. They were prepared and knew exactly what to do next.
,The problem and the answer were both simple, the situation had changed so the Mice decided o change as well. They became quick in their search of New cheese.
Later that day the Little People arrived at cheese station C. They had not been paying attention so they were very unprepared. When they found that there was no cheese yaaaay!! there was some yelling and shouting.
"What! no cheese?
"no cheese? no cheese?"
"who moved my cheese?
"it's not fair!"
And so they yelling continued Cheese was their way of being happy, but now because the cheese was no more it meant that there was now zero happiness. They spent a lot of time trying to decide what to do next because cheese was so important to them. All they could think was to keep looking around the cheese statio as if to see if the cheese was really gone., they were so in denial. But the Mice had moved on, looking for another cheese.
When the Little people left the station they wrote on the wall "the more important your cheese is to you the more you want to hold o to it."
The big question now is can you relate? Can you think of a similar situation in your life?or somebody else's life? Can you imagine what happened next to both the Mice and the Little people?
There's more to the story, but the lessons in here are that you should anticipate change, adapt to change quickly, enjoy change and be ready to change quickly, again and again. There is so much value in this book, especially if you get to understand and relate. It could be anything at all in your life. For example relationships. Often after a break up, people tend to cry over and over again, conclude that it's unfair and that they do not deserve to be dumped and everything else that you may think of. But remember what the Mice did when they found out that their cheese was no more? they moved on and looked for a new cheese to make them happy. They did not dwell on the past. They adapted to change. This goes on for every other situation that one may find themselves in. it can be difficult and frustrating yes but you must adapt to change as quick as you can do not dwell in one place or station, even if you did not anticipate the change, move on. Orelse you're going to be stuck at that one station like the Little people. This is a great book, i enjoyed it, and most importantly, it changed my way of thinking.
