Who

Moved
My
Cheese?
An Amazing Way to Deal With Change In
Your Work & In Your Life
DR SPENCER JOHNSON
“Cheese” – a metaphor for what
we want to have in life:
Good job
Happy relationship
Money
Big House
Freedom
Health
Recognition
Spiritual peace
Every morning, the mice & the little people, put on their
jogging suits and running shoes, left their homes and
raced into the maze looking for cheese.

The mice, Sniff and Scurry used the

simple trial and error method. They
ran down a corridor and if empty, they
ran down another.

The 2 little people, Hem and Haw, used their ability to

think and learn from past experiences. They relied on
their complex brains to develop more sophisticated
methods of finding cheese. Until one day….
The mice will took off Hem and Haw do the
their running shoes, same thing but after a
tied them together while, they woke up
and hung around their later, dressed slower
necks- so they could and walked to CSC.
get them quickly After all they know
whenever they needed where the Cheese is
them. Then they now. As soon as they
enjoyed the cheese. reached the station,
they would hung up
their pants, put away
their shoes
 We deserve
this, we had to
work long and
hard enough to
find it!
 Sniff and Scurry continued their
routine. They arrived early and sniffed
and scratched and scurried around the
Station C, inspecting the areas.

One morning, they arrived and

discovered there was no cheese. They
weren’t surprised and they had
noticed that supply had been getting
smaller everyday. They are prepared
and know what to do.
Later that same day, Hem & Haw arrived. They were
unprepared for what they found.

“What! No Cheese?” Hem yelled. “Who Moved My

Cheese?” , he put his hands on his hips, his face
turned red and screamed “It’s not fair!!’

They spent a long time trying to

decide what to do. They keep on
looking to see if the cheese was
really gone.
The more important
your Cheese is to
you, the more you
want to hold on to
it.
Hem analyzed the situation over and over again and
said “Why did they do this to me?”.

Haw said, “By the way, where is Sniff and Scurry? Do

you think they know something we don’t”.
Hem scoffed, “What would they know? They’re just
simple mice. They just respond to what happens.
We’re little people, we are smarter than mice!”
Haw suggested “Maybe we need to change and do things
differently.”
“Why should we change? This sort of thing should not
happen to us. If it does, we should get some benefits that
we are entitled.” Hem answered.
Haw asked “Why?”
“Because we didn’t cause this problem” Hem said.
“Somebody else did this and we should get something out of
it.”
Haw said “Maybe we should stop analyzing the situation
and just get going to find new cheese.”
“Oh no, I am going to get to the bottom of this!” said Hem.
And so everyday, Hem and Haw continued with their
same routine, going to Cheese Station C and
evaluating their situation.
“Let’s go find new cheese outside.” Haw exclaimed.
“No!” Hem responded “I like it here, its comfortable.
Besides, I’m getting too old for that and its
dangerous out there.”
With that, Haw’s fear of failing returned and his
hope of finding new cheese faded.
Hem and Haw banged the
wall and made a big hole.
They peeped inside but
found no cheese

Haw was beginning to

realize the difference
between activity and
productivity
Finally, one day, Haw began laughing at himself when he
saw what fear was doing to him. He grabbed his running
shoes and said to Hem “I realized that no one will put
yesterday’s cheese back”.
Hem asked “What if there is no cheese out there? And if
there is, what if you don’t know where to find it?”
Haw painted a picture in his mind of finding Swiss, Cheddar
and American cheeses and said “Sometimes, Hem, things
change and they are never the same again. That’s life! Life
moves on and so should we“. Hem wouldn’t listen.

Haw laughed and announced “IT’S MAZE TIME!” but

before he left, he wrote on the wall….
If you
do not
change,
you can
become
extinct.
Meanwhile, Sniff & Scurry went farther into the
maze until they found Cheese Station N. They found
what they had been looking for: A great supply of
New Cheese!

It was the biggest store of cheese the mice had ever

seen.
Haw is now in the maze. He looked back to where
he come from and felt its comfort.
He knew sometimes that fear can be good and wrote
on the wall…
Haw found little cheese in the maze, here and there,
but didn’t feel confident enough yet. The maze is so
confusing. He would get lot in corridors. It was a
challenge.

Whenever he started to get discouraged, he

reminded himself that this is better than staying in a
cheeseless situation. He was taking in control rather
than letting things happen to him.

He stopped to rest and wrote again on the wall.

Smell The Cheese
Often So You Know
When It Is Getting Old
Sometimes later, after not finding any cheese, Haw is
loosing his physical strength. He knew he was lost
and was afraid he would not survive. He even
thought of turning around and go back to Cheese
Station C.
Haw wondered if Hem had moved on. Then he
remembered the times when he had felt his best in
the maze.
It was when he was moving along.
He wrote on the wall, knowing it was as much a
reminder to himself but also a marking for his friend
Hem, hopefully….
Movement In
A New
Direction
Helps You
Find New
Cheese.
Then he laughed at himself. He realized his
fears were making things worse. He moved in a new
direction.
To his surprise, Haw started to enjoy himself more
and more.
“Why do I feel good?” he wondered. “I don’t have
any cheese and I don’t know where I’m going”.
Before long, he knew why he felt good and stopped
and write on the wall……
When You
Move Beyond
Your Fear, You
Feel Free
To make things better, Haw started to dream and
paint a picture in his mind again.
He saw himself sitting in a middle of a pile of all his
favorite cheeses – from Cheddar to Brie!
He saw himself eating the many cheeses he liked and
he enjoyed what he saw.
He wrote…
Imagining
Myself Enjoying
New Cheese
Even Before I
Find It,

Leads Me To It!
Haw wondered why he had always thought that a
change would lead to something worse. But now he
realized that change could lead to something better.
He raced through the mace with greater strength
and agility.
He spotted a cheese station
and spotted little pieces of
cheese. He ate most of the
bits and put some few in his
pocket.
He began to regain his
strength and again wrote….
The Quicker You
Let Go Of Old
Cheese, The
Sooner you Find
New Cheese.
After a while, Haw made his way back to Cheese
Station C and found Hem. He offered him bits of
cheese but was turned down.
Hem appreciated his friend’s gesture but said “I
don’t think I would like New Cheese. It’s not what I
used to. I want my own Cheese back and I’m not
going to change until I get what I want.”
Disappointed, Haw went back on his own. He knew
what made him happy wasn’t just having cheese.
It Is Safer To Search
In The Maze Than
Remain In A
Cheeseless Situation
Haw used to believe that Cheese should never be
moved and that change wasn’t right.
Now, he realized that it was natural for change to
continually occur, whether you expect it or not.
Change could surprise you only if you didn’t expect it
and weren’t looking for it.
When he realized he had changed his beliefs,
he paused again to write on the wall….
 Old Beliefs Do
Not Lead You To
New Cheese
He knew when you change what you believe,
you change what you do.
You can believe that a change will harm you and
resist it or..
You can believe that finding New Cheese will help
you.
It all depends on what you choose to believe.

He wrote on the wall….

 When You See
That You Can
Find And Enjoy
New Cheese,

You Change Course

He used his imagination again and saw himself
finding and savoring new cheese. He decided to
proceed into the more unknown part of the maze
and found bits of cheese here and there.

Haw was glad he had written on the wall in many

places. He trusted that it would serve as a marked
trail for Hem to follow if he chose to leave Cheese
Station C.

He again wrote on the wall what he had been

thinking about for some time….
 Noticing Small
Changes Early
Helps You Adapt
To The Bigger
Changes That
Are To Come
Station N, where Haw found the new
Cheese!

Congratulation Haw!
Piled everywhere was the greatest supply of
cheese he had ever seen. Some kinds of
cheese were new to him.
When had eaten his fill, he lifted a piece of fresh
cheese and made a toast “Hooray for Change”.
Sniff and Scurry welcomed him. They nodded their
heads in admiration.
Haw had learned something from Sniff and Scurry.
They kept life simple. They didn’t overanalyze
or overcomplicate things.
When the situation changed and the Cheese had
been moved, they moved with the Cheese.
He also realized that:
•There is always new cheese out there whether you
recognize it at the time or not
•You are rewarded with it when you go past your
fear
•Fear should be respected as it keeps you out of real
danger
•Change has turned out to be a blessing in disguise
as it led him to find better cheese.
•He even found a better part of himself.
Haw thought about going back to Cheese Station C
to see Hem but he realized that he had already tried
to get his friend to change.
Hem had to find his own way. No one else could do
it for him. He should see the advantage of changing
himself.
Haw knew he had left a trail for Hem and that he
could find his way, if he could just read the
“Handwriting On The Wall”.
He drew a large piece of cheese around all the
insights he had become aware of….
THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL
 Change Happens
 Anticipate Change
 Monitor Change
 Adapt To Change Quickly
 Change
 Enjoy Change!
 Be Ready To Change Quickly & Enjoy It
Again.
Then, Haw heard sounds of movement. As the noise
grew louder, he realized that someone is coming.

Could it be that Hem was arriving?

Haw said a little prayer and hoped – as he had many

times before – that maybe, at last, his friend was
finally able to…
 Move
With The Cheese!!!
 SNIFFY SCURRY
Anticipates change Quickly scurry into
early by sniffing it out action and adapts.
in the marketplace, He liked to get things
and update the done, so they took
corporate vision. action based on the
new corporate
vision.

HEM HAW
Denies change and Learns to adapt in time
resist it out of fear. He when they see
wanted to work in a something better. They
place that was safe were hesitant at first,
and where the but were open-minded
changes made sense enough to learn
to them, turning them something new, and
into Haws. adapted.
Whatever parts we choose to use, we all
share something in common:

A NEED
TO FIND OUR WAY IN
THE MAZE
AND
SUCCEED IN
CHANGING TIMES
Every right implies a responsibility; every
opportunity, an obligation & every possession, a
duty. So it s our RESPONSIBILITY &
OBLIGATION TO SERVE OUR DUTY WELL
BY STAYING ALERT, CALM and by NOT
JUDGING OUR SITUATIONS
SUPERFICALLY.

It is very well said by SOCRATES that “The

unexamined life is not worth living” hence one
should always explore all horizons and all possible
alternatives in order to be successful and reach their
CHEESE STATION “N”.
There is always new
cheese out there!!!