What’s YOUR Cheese?

I was walking by my bookshelf the other day and noticed an old book I have “consulted” several times throughout my career during times of immense change… “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson. Something told me, it was time to sit down and read it again.

This may sound odd, but this time I decided to read it aloud to myself, like a parent would read to a child. Surprisingly, this approach immersed me in the content and characters, and forced me to stay focused and thoughtfully reflect on how I was handling the current change in my life. As the story unfolded, I quickly identified with the characters and situations it presented as well as how I let some behaviors trap me recently. What I wanted(my cheese), where I was looking for it (in the maze) and who I was behaving like (a mouse or a little person) during my journey through change became important questions to answer…

Why Cheese and Who was I in the Story?

The story cleverly uses cheese as a metaphor for “what” we are pursuing in life and a maze  to symbolize “where” we are looking for it like in our relationships, our health or even in our careers. The cheese and maze together set the stage for two mice and two little-people who emerge and demonstrate different behaviors and mindsets when detecting and dealing with change:

• Sniff is a mouse that sniffs out change early.
• Scurry is a mouse who scurries into action quickly when faced with change.
• Hem is a little person who denies and resists change as he fears it will lead to something worse.
• Haw is a little person who learns to adapt in time when he sees changing leads to something better.

As I read the story and reflected on the characters, I could see over the last year that I had exhibited behaviors of each of them at times, but it was clear who I was acting the most like currently and who I needed to become going forward.

How Do I Approach Change?

Next, it challenged me to honestly assess how I detect, think about, and approach change as well as my ability to “read the handwriting on the wall” as the book describes it, during changes in my life:

• Change Happens – they keep moving the cheese.
• Anticipate Change – get ready for the cheese to move.
• Monitor Change – smell the cheese often so you know when it’s getting old.
• Adapt To Change – the quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new cheese.
• Change – move with the change.
• Enjoy Change! – savor the adventure and enjoy the taste of new cheese!
• Be Ready To Change Quickly and Enjoy It Again and Again – they keep moving the cheese.

It took a mere 50 minutes to read this book and even though it wasn’t the first time, it felt like it. I had forgotten these basic principles when facing change and how it didn’t matter “who” moved “my cheese”, but rather, making sure I knew what “cheese” I really wanted, detecting whether it was still there, and having the courage to proactively look for new “cheese” if needed.  Lessons I could have learned from a mouse!

How about you?

• What is your cheese?
• Who are you in the story?
• How do you approach change?
• Are you reading the “handwriting on the wall” and acting accordingly?

P.s. – for those that think it’s to weird to read to yourself (I won’t tell anyone!), you can have the author read it to you on Audible.com for $12…it’s well worth it!