Why do you need to change now? “Who Moved My Cheese?”
The teaching that “the world is always changing” has often been saying for a long time, but since human beings are originally creatures that dislike change, even if they know it in their heads, they may not cope with it well. “Who Moved My Cheese?” Is an instinctual suggestion of how to deal with the changes by explaining it in an easy-to-understand manner.
The book is 94 pages long and will take less than an hour to read. The genre is probably a fairy tale, as the characters include mice and dwarfs, but the content is truly philosophical and suggestive.
Due to its simplicity and strong message, it has been read worldwide since its first edition in 1998, and according to The New York Times, it has become a bestseller with over 28 million copies as of 2017.
For those of you who have heard the book’s name and reputation but don’t know what the story is yet, here’s a quick synopsis.
Summary of the synopsis of “Who Moved My Cheese?” What does cheese mean?
The two mice named “Sniff” and “Scurry” and the two “Littlepeople” named “Hem” and “Haw” ran around the maze every day, searching for food for the day. Fortunately, they found much cheese at Station C.
Then there is a change in behavior between the mice and the Littlepeople.
Mice don’t have much wisdom, so they run from home early every morning to reach the cheese. However, the wisdom-turning Littlepeople moved closer to the cheese, spending the morning slowly and heading to the cheese place in the early afternoon. The Littlepeople already knew where the cheese was, so they thought they didn’t need to move around anymore.
When those days continued, the cheese disappeared from Station C. Actually, the cheese hasn’t disappeared. It’s just gone as a result of their continued eating …
The story changes steadily from here. The behavior of the mice and the Littlepeople were entirely different for this lost cheese.
The mice quickly returned to life before finding the cheese and ran to another place searching for new cheese. However, the Littlepeople thought, “We’re Littlepeople. We’re smarter than mice.” So, they are not convinced that the cheese is gone.
One day, one of the Littlepeople decides to leave Station C searching for “New Cheese.”
To summarize this story further, they (we) want “cheese”, but they are in a “Maze” and cannot be easily found.
Moreover, as the times change, the conventional method (how to find cheese) will no longer work.
Under such circumstances, it is a story of how to find cheese.
So what does cheese in this story mean? Happiness? Success? Wealth? There will be each person. It may be product sales, customer relationships, and personal advancement or promotion in terms of business.
If you replace cheese with relationships, it may also apply to misunderstandings with friends, conversations between family and couples, and parent-child relationships. When it comes to romance, cheese can be just the love of a lover who doesn’t want it to disappear.
Characters in this story
The characters in this work have different personalities and types. These four types and four types symbolize the simplicity and complexity that we all have.
■ Mice “Sniff”
A type that sensitively senses changes. In the story, he noticed that the cheese was declining gradually, and he predicted that “the cheese will run out someday”, so he could move on to the next action immediately. did. By the way, “Sniff” means smelling, to smell something.
■ Mice “Scurry”
A type that moves quickly in response to changes rather than using intelligence as a weapon, it tries to find the next cheese with its quick action. Scurry believes that if he acts faster than anyone else, he can find new cheeses faster than anyone else. Also, “Scurry” means to go in a hurry and move quickly.
■ Littlepeople “Hem”
He is the timidest to change. He doesn’t admit that “cheese has disappeared” for some reason, analyze it, comfort it with unfounded hope, and sometimes shift responsibility to someone (he shouts that someone should take the cheese and find the culprit), it is a type that can not easily get out of the current situation. The word “Hem” means a border.
■ Littlepeople “Haw”
He is the one who thinks carefully, accepts reality, and takes the courage to take the next step. There are many conflicts among them, and while repeating self-questioning and self-answering, we go step by step and take actions to change ourselves. In the end, he enjoys the act of searching rather than the presence or absence of cheese. In this story, he is portrayed as the most human character. “Haw” means to mumble and laugh.
What did the author want to say in “Who Moved My Cheese?”
I introduced each character above, but who do you think most resembles your personality? But no matter what character you are, there are important principles. In the book, the author consistently used the keyword “change.” From this, it is clear that the book is telling about change. This time, explaining the “change” in three major parts.
・ Change will come to everyone, so anticipate and take measures
The Littlepeople were unaware of the small changes that cheese was running out of. Then they finally started to get impatient when the cheese was completely gone. How about you? How can you plan and act for the small changes of every day? The world is making lots of rules and innovating without people knowing.
・ Don’t be afraid of change
Sometimes people set big goals, but they rarely actually take action on them. Because they are afraid of change. In other words, they feel comfortable in their current environment and are reluctant to act. The author teaches such people that they cannot get cheese if they are afraid of change.
・ Recognize change and adapt it
Predict change, and when you’re no longer afraid, take action. It is easy to act when you are aware of the changes and can get used to them. Ultimately, the most stable life is not that there is no change, but that you are constantly changing.
Conclusion
Each person who reads this book lives a different life and must be in a different position and situation. Still, this book conveys something important to everyone.
Know that things will always change
Always pay attention to changes around you
Change is neither evil nor good. Which one to use depends on how you think about the change.
We will continue to search for cheese from tomorrow. Whether or not this story is in the corner of your head will surely make a big difference in your actions and decisions. And above all, the “mindfulness” that is the basis of that action should change completely.
Even if you know it in your head, human beings are not so strong. Afraid of change, terrified, anxious, and timid. Everyone should have such an experience.
You have something you want to do, but you can’t take the first step. You know in your mind, but you can’t take action. That is human weakness, and conversely, it is also the source of human strength.
What is the cheese to you? What’s going on with your cheese now? No matter what changes appear in front of you, look for new cheeses.
