And in this week’s episode of Who Moved My Cheese… (said in my best late-night radio DJ voice), let’s talk about change.

None of us really like it. We like familiar. We like routine. We like safe. We like knowing exactly where the cheese is. We don’t like the fear of something we don’t understand or the unknown.

For some strange reason, I often find myself comparing people to Muppet characters. There’s the Swedish Chef. I think he’s hilarious, even though no one has any idea what he’s saying. Then there’s Beaker, a magnet for disaster who somehow survives every experiment. And, of course, there’s Animal.

Animal doesn’t simply enter a room. He explodes into it. He’s yelling, flailing, creating chaos, and then exits exactly the same way. We’ve all met an Animal or two that leave us thinking, “WT#!”

This week, I had the opportunity to witness a full-blown Animal moment. Someone had their cheese moved.

If you’ve never read Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, it’s worth the hour it takes. It’s a tiny book with a big message.

The story follows four characters (not Muppets this time) who live in a maze searching for cheese. The cheese represents whatever we want in life: success, happiness, security, a relationship, or peace of mind.

Then one day, the cheese disappears.

The mice, Sniff and Scurry, don’t waste time complaining. They immediately start looking for new cheese. The little people, Hem and Haw, react very differently. They resist. They complain. They blame. They fear the unknown. Eventually, Haw realizes something important. The sooner you let go of the old cheese, the sooner you’ll find new cheese.

It’s such a simple lesson, yet it’s one we all struggle with.

Our industry changes constantly. Markets change. Technology changes. Forms change. Policies change. The agents who thrive aren’t necessarily the smartest or even the most experienced. More often than not, they’re the ones willing to adapt.

We’ve all been Animal at some point. Something changes, and our first instinct is to scream, resist, and hope someone puts the cheese back exactly where we left it.

But that’s not how life works.

The maze keeps changing. The cheese keeps moving. The people who continue to grow are the ones willing to move with it.

So the next time someone moves your cheese, try not to channel Animal. Instead, be a little more like Sniff and Scurry (or Kermit the Frog). You may just discover the next piece of cheese is even better than the last.