2016-11-27

What I learned from "Who Moved My Cheese"

bookreview

Last week I read a book titled "Who Moved My Cheese".

Who Moved My Cheese Cover

The book was published on 1998 and has been sold more than 10 million copies.

"Who Moved My Cheese" is a story of four characters, Sniff (mouse), Scurry (mouse), Hem (littlepeople), and Haw (littlepeople). It's about them looking for cheese (accomplishments, goal, or dream) in a maze (society they live in).

The book is a short story, which shows us a way on how to adapt to changes and where we are in our current situation as well as to learn to detect changes around us and make a quick decision and act on it.

Summary of Who Moved My Cheese

One day all four characters found cheese in a maze. Sniff was always monitoring a change in cheese size. Scurry was quick to take an action. They both knew that cheese will be gone one day so they were always on alert while Hem and Haw were relaxing that cheese will be here day after day.

When the cheese was gone Sniff and Scurry immediately look for another cheese in the maze and moved on. Hem and Haw were busy blaming external factors for cheese being gone. Haw eventually realized that he was in the wrong for not realizing that the cheese will be gone someday and looked for another cheese while Hem was stuck in the past without moving on.

While Haw was in the journey looking for another cheese, he left many clues to motivate Hem to move on and taken an action but it was of no use. Haw eventually found another cheese and discovered Sniff and Scurry there.Fng on the edge w

Lessons Learned.

I applied the lessons learned in three different areas.

  1. Work: I rather keep this one private.
  2. Health: I used to be like Hem, who was denying the current situation that I am going to be fine even after gaining 30+ pounds. I've realized that my cheese (health) was gone and I needed to look for another cheese (healthier life). After realizing later, I've notified Hem like people with clues to how I lost weight but they were reluctant to make a change...
  3. Technical Side: I've realized that my Web Forms and .NET knowledge was outdated. I was looking for new cheese and eventually settled with learning Python (I've been wondering why big companies such as Google and Facebook uses Python...). I also found out that many people are moving toward "Functional Programming" over OOP. I am detecting the change like Sniff and try to look for the next big thing.

Conclusion

I am applying what I've learned in three different areas. Depending on number of perspective I discover, I will be able to apply the concept in other areas.

"Who Moved My Cheese" helped me to understand my current situation and what needs to be done as well as to realize the changes around me.