Who Moved My Cheese?

In this fast changing world, life is really a matter of chance. Every decision made by a person will not work out without determination and hard work. The characterization made in the book “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson is a clear manifestation of how human beings behave in the society.

The animals in the story bear different characteristics that can be attributed to different personalities among humans. The four main characters in the novel show different actions and reactions towards the problem at hand.

Just like people who have diverse attitudes and behaviors, they have to face the challenges in the novel so that they can achieve their dream cheese. It is not peculiar to relate animals with human beings because it has a close resemblance. Juts like a mouse, a person tends to work hard in order to get some cheese. The cheese in the story is not any ordinary cheese; it symbolizes the goals and aspirations of the mice in the story which possess different personalities.

The symbolisms and themes used in the book played a great job in exposing the point of view of the other in the best possible way. The book in general is about success and people. The cheese in the book symbolizes success and the 2 mice and 2 little people symbolize different people. The readers can see themselves from the characters that mirror their personality when it comes to decision making and learning about the idea of success.

Book Summary

Four characters were presented in the book. These are the little people Hem and Haw and the mice Sniff and Scurry. Lets characterize them one by one: Sniff is simple minded and uncomplicated, he anticipates changes early by sniffing it which is also his way in finding cheese everyday. Scurry is also like Sniff, simple minded and uncomplicated, he quickly scurries into action and adapt to the environment which in fact made him bump into walls when finding cheese on dark places. As they continue their everyday quest in finding cheese, when they found out that their cheese supply is nearly out of hand, Sniff and Scurry were prepared for the inevitable and knew instinctively what to do. The 2 mice did not over analyze things and were not burdened by many complex beliefs. They just accepted the fact that their cheese supply is nearly out of hand and so they were quickly off in search of New Cheese. Their trial and error method works though sometimes this will put their lives at risk like scurry being bumped on walls.

On the other hand Hem and Haw are both full of complexities and they are complicated. But since the same scenario happened to hem and haw when they find out that their cheese is gone they find it hard to accept it and continuously hem and haw to the incident. Hem was yelling and complains that life is unfair for them since they worked hard for those cheeses, Hem denies the change that has happened with their cheese and Haw wants to ignore what he hears because he didn’t want to deal with what was facing him so he just turned everything out. Haw easily give up and panicked when the cheese was moved. Haw had learned to adapt in time when he sees something better, as he observed from the 2 mice’s activity and this made him learn a very important lesson about change, productivity and activity.

Personal Work Experience

My work as a (insert your profession here) demands alertness and hard work in everything. A slight change in my decision can lead to my downfall. It is the event that I never want to happen. I also value other people like my co-workers and I cannot afford loosing them too. Everyday gives us new and challenging experiences. Our company is like a big room full of cheese. There are many possibilities at hand and we should be careful enough in choosing which the best cheese is.

Part of my profession is having the same work everyday, although at some points I feel a little boredom, I need to see things in a different perspective. Change is inevitable and I should always deal with it with optimism. I can say that my personality is more of a Haw, where at times i tend to be at ease with what I already have. And i also make things complicated once change occurs. I sometimes want to ignore what is already happening but later on i began to realize and adapt in due time those better reasons why certain things had happen and change is really unavoidable in this world. Lessons on productivity and activity are also one key term for me. We have to move everyday and live like there’s no tomorrow.

Conclusion

The challenge in this book is how willing people are to accept changes in their everyday lives. Basically we always take things for granted and be confided with the stereotypical days of our lives. Are we going to be stuck like Hem,Haw, Sniff and Scurry rising up every morning outs on their jogging suits and running shoes leaves their homes and race around the maze looking for their favorite cheese? Don’t wait for someone to move your cheese first before you do something. You have to seek for wider horizons and greater possibilities.

There are many realizations and lessons that we can adopt from the book and apply in our lives especially for managers who play an important role in every organization. Managers should anticipate change and be ready to handle them. At the same time adaptation to these changes is really a must. Everyone have to enjoy these changes because everything happens for a reason struggles makes people stronger and well prepared for the future.

Reference

• Johnson. Spencer (2002) Who Moved My Cheese? Vermilion Publishing