Learn to adapt or get left behind: a lesson from ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’”
Imagine a life where you have everything you want – a fulfilling career, loving relationships, financial security. Now imagine that one day everything changes and you are left by yourself, alone and confused. This is the situation described in the famous book “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson.
In “Who Moved My Cheese?” Spencer Johnson talks about four characters who live inside a maze and who need cheese to survive. But one day, the cheese suddenly disappears. All four of the characters become really worried… how will they survive now that everything has changed? Two of the characters, called Hem and Haw, simply keep going to the same place where they had always found cheese before, and they keep complaining and becoming frustrated when the cheese is no longer there. But the other two characters, named Sniff and Scurry, immediately realize that complaining will not bring the cheese back, so they start exploring new parts of the maze and try to find new sources of cheese.
As you can guess, this story is not actually about a maze or about cheese. The cheese simply represents our goals and desires in life. It could be a job, a relationship, or even a sense of security. But the important thing to understand is that things will always change. The cheese will not stay where it is forever. In today’s world, where technology is advancing rapidly every day, it is easy to understand that the way things are done will continue to change very quickly.
But the choice of how we deal with this change is always our own. Will we be like Hem and Haw, trying to do things that we are used to doing, even though those methods no longer work? Or will we be like Sniff and Scurry, who changed their thinking, sought out new ways to get things done? Only you have the power to decide how you will respond to change, but remember that in life only those who can adapt like Sniff and Scurry are the ones who succeed.
Zakaullah Khan
Head of Digital Brand Development.
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