Where is the Cheese?
About a year ago a co-worker of mine told me about the book Who Moved My Cheese? written by Spencer Johnson, M.D. I was in a period where I was unhappy with my corporate job and just kept going back everyday. I really didn’t expect things to change, but I kept going back day after day to the same job even though it wasn’t providing me with the things I really needed.
I enjoyed reading Who Moved My Cheese?, it is a really easy read and not very long. I think I finished it in one evening. But the symbolism in the story struck a chord with my current situation and I really got a chuckle out of how ridiculous it was that I was doing the same thing every day somehow expecting things to be different.
The book is basically about two guys who live in a maze and live off of eating cheese. They discover a large source of cheese and go to it every day. They enjoy the safety of knowing where the cheese is and they don’t have to take chances in the maze looking for other sources of cheese. Over time the cheese becomes moldy and really doesn’t taste as good as it did in the beginning but they continue to go to it everyday. One day the cheese is gone. Afraid to venture into the unknown they complain and fight between each other about where the cheese is. Day after day they continue with the routine of going to the same spot even though the cheese is not there. After some time one of the guys gets up the nerve to go out into the maze searching for more cheese. His friend refuses to go and even tries to talk him out of it telling him how hard it will be. The one who ventures off into the maze discovers that there is a lot of cheese elsewhere and venturing into the maze isn’t as scary or difficult as he thought. Actually he enjoys exploring in the maze and finding new and better sources of cheese.
The guy who ventured off in search of his own cheese stopped and wrote on the walls of the maze along the way. Three notable quotes are “If You Do Not Change, You Can Become Extinct”, “When you move beyond your fear, you feel free”, and “What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?”.
How does your cheese taste? Is it stale or are you still enjoying it like when you first discovered it? What would you do if one day your cheese was gone? Would you complain and blame others or go out searching for your own new and better cheese?
I think this is a powerful story about change, how you foresee change, how you adapt to it, and how you can take life in your own hands. I highly recommend it for a fun short yet inspirational read.
This is very interesting! Thought provoking for sure! Thanks for sharing!
Interesting, did you plan to continue this article?
Ilias
I’ve had the line, “what would would you do if you weren’t afraid” as my mantra for years….I never knew where it came from. Now I must go read the book. Thank you.