Who moved my kaya?

An interesting lesson learnt today while I was attending the MOT induction course at civil service college. The trainer showed us an motivating clip of two mice and two little people who spend their time running around a maze looking for cheese. Cheese in this case is a metaphor in which something we want in life. Could be money, career , love whatever.

In the beginning, the two mice Scurry and Sniff together with Hem and Haw found a cheese station C after running around the maze. They kept going back to the cheese station for cheese everyday after. However one day, the cheese ran out / disappear.

So what did the mice and little people do?


The disappearance of cheese signify the changes in life and how we cope and change ourselves when we encounter such situations. In the clip, both scurry and sniff ran out to search for new cheese once the realised that the cheese had ran out. Hem and Haw on the contrary stayed behind hoping that the cheese would re-appear. The cheese never did.

Lessons learnt today.

1. Changes occur in life. One must adapt to changes quickly to look for new cheese. And it occur to me that this is what T is doing. Looking for new cheese because he realised that the cheese he has now will run out in a few years time. He represent the mice, venturing into the maze (unknown) hoping to look for new cheese.

2. Anticipate changes. One must get ready for the cheese to move.

During the training, the cheese issue set me thinking. Me currently like Hem or Haw is too comfortable with the current situation and dislike any changes. But if i don't change and my cheese is moved, what will happen to me? If i venture into the unknown, maybe there is a new and bigger cheese for me.

This is really quite true in business world. One must keep on changing in order to stay relevant. No wonder our government keep on emphasising in innovation, creative, new, changes.

The moral of the story - We must be ready and be quick to change.

My Kaya (Singapore context) has moved, should i chase ?