Who Moved My Cheese?
-The Book for Change-

Photo courtesy of arbyreed

Who Moved My Cheese?, by Spencer Johnson, M.D., is an amazing book that teaches you how to deal with change in your work and personal life.

The cheese in the story is a metaphor representing what you desire: a job, money, health, relationship, etc. The maze represents the place where you look for what you desire.

It's a simple parable about four characters that deal with change. As in the book, people deal with change differently.

Two Mice		Two Littlepeople
Sniff	Scurry	Hem	Haw
Sniffs out change early	Scurries into action and makes decisions quickly	Resists change	Learns to adapt and sees that change leads to something better

In Who Moved My Cheese?, the characters are faced with a dilemma. They have run out of cheese and need to make a decision: change or be left behind.

As you read the short story, you begin to discover how easily, as human beings, our thoughts, emotions, and feelings affect our ability to adapt to change.

As a Man Thinketh teaches you that you change your thoughts to change your world.

But people resist change because:

• They feel entitled.
• They are comfortable.
• They are fearful that things will get worse.
• They are lazy.

Hem experienced all of these emotions and thus, was left behind.

Adapt to Change

As animals, Sniff and Scurry use animal instinct to find their Cheese. They search and quickly make decisions while running through the maze.

As human beings, we have emotions and feelings that can be our crutch in dealing with change. However, we have something that animals don't: a thinking mind.

Change comes from the inside and starts with the mind. Here are several lessons that you will learn from this book:

• Fear holds you back. Once you overcome fear, you become free.
• Smell the cheese often and know when it is getting old.
• Visualize yourself with your new cheese. It will help you find it.
• If you don't change, you can become extinct.
• It's safer to move and change with situations rather than remain still in a cheeseless situation.
• Old beliefs will not lead you to new cheese.
• Enjoy change, and you will enjoy new cheese.

How We Have Changed

Spencer Johnson's book is a simple story with a simple message. However, change is sometimes not easy.

When my wife and I embarked on our new journey, we chose to ditch old beliefs, habits, and patterns. In the world of finances, it's easy to feel comfortable going along with the crowd.

But, we knew that this cheese was getting old. So, we decided to change. We changed our scarcity mindset to a millionaire mindset.

It has come with resistance. We still get into debates with our friends and family about our different philosophies and strategies. But, we know that if we want different, and better, results, we must change.

And we did.

Who Moved My Cheese? helped us with this process and reassured us that we are on a better path. We invite change and the challenges it brings.

We learned that there's a bit of each character in all of us. We all utilize the different strategies of Sniff, Scurry, Hem, and Haw every day. The key is accepting change for what it is: an opportunity to grow. Once you accept change, you invite greater opportunities.

Now, the question is: How is your cheese? If it's getting stale or if you want better cheese, change. Read Who Moved My Cheese? and learn that change can lead you to the cheese of your dreams.

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