Dr. Spencer Johnson - Out of the Maze: A Story about the Power of Belief

Spencer Johnson, MD, is the author of Who Moved My Cheese?, the global multi-million-copy bestseller. He is also the author of The Present and Yes or No, and the co-author of The One Minute Manager. His works have become cultural touchstones and are available in over forty languages. He died in July 2017.

Who Moved My Cheese? offered millions of readers relief for an evergreen problem: unanticipated and unwelcome change. Now its long-awaited sequel digs deeper, to show how readers can adapt their beliefs and achieve better results in any field.

Johnsons theme is that all of our accomplishments are due to our beliefs: whether were confident or insecure, cynical or positive, open-minded or inflexible. But its difficult to change your beliefs and with them, your outcomes. Find out how Hem, Haw, and the other characters from Who Moved My Cheese? deal with this challenge.

ONE CRISP AUTUMN day, a group of people met for another session of a weekly business development seminar. This was their next-to-last class, and for today they had been assigned to read a little story about two characters, Hem and Haw, who each responded very differently to change. The book was called Who Moved My Cheese?

Dennis, the seminar leader, called the class to order.

Okay, everyone, I want to start off with a question: Who the heck did move our cheese, and what are we gonna do about it?

The students laughed. Dennis had a way of putting them at ease, yet they also knew he had some serious insights when it came to business.

They began discussing the book. Some said they had gotten a lot out of the story, both in their work and in their personal lives.

Some, though, had questions.

I get the whole thing about adapting to change, said Alex, who worked in the tech industry. But thats easier said than done. How exactly do we go about doing that?

Mia, a doctor, agreed. Some changes seem easy to go with. But some seem really difficult.

And my job hasnt just changed, Alex added. Seems like its disappearing completely.

Me too, said Brooke, who was in publishing. Sometimes it feels like I dont even recognize the field Im in anymore.

Sometimes I dont recognize my life anymore, said Alex. The others laughed. Seriously, he said. So much is changing at once. Id Move with the cheese if I couldbut half the time I have no idea where the cheese even went!

While this was going on, a young man in the back, Tim, raised a hand and said something.

Dennis put up both hands to stop the action, and once everyone else had quieted down, he asked Tim to repeat his question so they could all hear it.

Tim cleared his throat and said, What about Hem?

Alex turned to look back at the young man. What about him?

Tim said, Whatever happened to him?

The room fell silent, as everyone thought back to the story of Hem and Haw and asked themselves the same question.

Thats what I want to know, Tim continued. Because honestly, Hem is the character in the story that I most relate to.

Haw seems to catch on and find his way. Meanwhile Hem is sitting back there in his empty home, alone and upset. Seems to me, he wants to figure this all out just as much as Haw, but hes genuinely stuck. And I hate to say it, but thats pretty much how things are for me, too.

At first, nobody said anything. Then Mia spoke up.

I know what you mean. Thats kind of how my situation feels, too. I want to go where the cheese is. But I dont even know where to begin.

One by one, they realized how much they resonated with what the young man said. In the story, the Haw character went out and found New Cheese. He went with the change, and it worked out for him. But Hem was still lost.

A lot of them felt that way themselves.

All that week, Dennis thought about the young man and his question.

When the class gathered the following week, he said, I thought a good deal about your questions from last week, about why Haw changed but Hem didnt, and what might have come next.

I think theres more to the story, and Id like to share it with you.

The place got so quiet you could hear a mouse blink. Everyone wanted to know: What happened to Hem?

You probably remember the events of Who Moved My Cheese, Dennis began

ONCE, LONG AGO in a land far away, there lived four little characters who ran through a Maze looking for Cheese to nourish them and make them happy. Two were mice named Sniff and Scurry, and two were Littlepeople named Hem and Haw.

The Maze was a labyrinth of corridors and chambers, some containing delicious Cheese. But there were also dark corners and blind alleys leading nowhere.

One day they all found their favorite Cheese at the end of a corridor in Cheese Station C. After that, they kept returning to the same place every day to enjoy more of that wonderful Cheese.

It wasnt long before Hem and Haw had built their whole lives around Cheese Station C. They had no idea where the Cheese came from, or who put it there. They just assumed it would always be there.

And then one day, it wasnt.

When they saw that the Cheese was gone, Sniff and Scurry set off right away in search of New Cheese.

But not Hem and Haw. The two Littlepeople stood there, stunned. Their Cheese was gone! How was this possible? No one had warned them! It wasnt right! This was not the way things were supposed to be.

They spent days being upset.

Finally Haw noticed that Sniff and Scurry had run off into the Maze, and he decided to follow the mice and go look for New Cheese, too.

Sometimes, Hem, things change and they are never the same again, said Haw. This looks like one of those times. Life moves on. And so should we.

And so saying, he left.

After a few days, Haw showed up again at Cheese Station C with a few small pieces of New Cheese, and offered some to Hem.

But Hem didnt think he would like this New Cheese. It wasnt what he was used to. He wanted his own Cheese back. So Haw reluctantly set off again on his own to look for more New Cheese.

And that was the last Hem had seen of his friend Haw.

FOR DAYS, HEM stayed in his home by Cheese Station C, pacing back and forth, fussing and fuming.

He still expected more Cheese to appear every day, and couldnt believe it when that didnt happen. He felt sure that if he stood his ground and waited it out, things would turn around.

But they didnt.

And why didnt Haw come back? Hem came up with many different answers as he paced.

At first he told himself, He is coming back. Hell be here any day now, and things will go back to normal. But it had been any day now for days, and Haw still wasnt here.

As he grew still more upset, Hems thoughts took a different direction.

He forgot about me.

Hes hiding from me.

Hes doing this on purpose! How could my friend betray me like this?

This last thought made Hem angry, and the more he focused on it, the angrier he got.

He was angry that Haw had left him alone, angry that the Cheese was gone, and angry that nothing he did seemed to fix or improve the situation. Finally he stopped and shouted, ITS NOT FAIR!

Worn out from pacing and being upset, Hem collapsed into his favorite armchair and began to brood.

What if Haw had got lost?

What if hed been hurt, or worse?

Hem forgot about being angry and just thought about his friend, and about what terrible things might have happened to him.