Who moved my cheese

Just came across the book Who Move My Cheese again in a bookstore. For some reason I bought and read it again.

This is a book I knew from my primary school but only read when I was in or after university. It is so popular, but I can’t recall anything before I read it again this time. I don’t know why I bought this time killer again, but strangely I learned something from it this time.

Who moved my cheese is a very short story which I finished reading in one hour. Actually the second half of the story is a bit too descriptive that could be even shortened. It tells a story how four creatures react to a change that the cheese station they visited every day no longer has cheese.

There is one guy who reminds me of myself this time. They figured the fact of the cheese missing isn’t caused by themselves, so it is unfair for them to take the outcome. They refused to accept the change and insisted on remaining in the original position until someone would come in and fix it.

I somehow resonated to this guy. Similar situation actually happened to me as well before. That was the Christmas of 2016. Back at that time I was a food courier for UberEats in Melbourne. I sat in St. Albans for the whole night wishing to get more orders, but I got none. I knew I won’t get as many orders as usual before the sunset from the average order I have already gotten by that time. A more wise option, now I look back at it, would be just going home and enjoying my holiday, but that was my first Christmas in the “western” society. I thought I could possibly get more orders in the night. Since I had set a target for the day in my mind, I didn’t want to change it easily. When I didn’t seem to be able to fulfill my target, I became frustrated. That frustration lingered and kept me fighting with myself. Eventually I trapped myself.

This sounds exactly like what happened in the story, with the cheese getting smaller and quality becoming worse day by day before it’s completely gone. Some sensed the change, prepared for the change and reacted quickly without thinking too much. Some ignored and insisted what they believed and refused to action because they didn’t cause the change.

But when you look at it, it doesn’t matter who should be responsible for the change. It matters how we react to it.

This is not to say every change is good, but when a change is ought to happen and has happened, what should we do?

Stop whining. Start actioning!