The Beauty of Mission Ball’s Design

People develop an initial impression to Mission Ball quickly.  Maybe they think that forming a new sport is imaginative and powerful, or maybe they think it’s silly.  Perhaps they like competition and so they like Mission Ball, or perhaps they dislike both.  Whether you like or dislike it initially, it’s important to understand that there’s much more depth—and elegance—to Mission Ball than just the notion of, “Hey, let’s form teams of people who compete to do as many good deeds as possible.”  Although the program will certainly need fine-tuning, engineers and craftsmen around the world recognize the relationship between elegance of initial design and deep utility.  Like a Swiss Army Knife, Mission Ball's design is almost a work of art.  Here are some of the dimensions of its beauty.

Beauty in balance.   The program is balanced in many ways.  The four areas of action divide into two with a personal focus (increasing personal capacity and personal mission) and two that are other-oriented (empowering others and creating a world sustaining lifestyle.)   The Team meeting uses the Goal & Growth Group format, which rests on a tripod of thinking, feeling and doing, since the three reports are “What I’ve learned,”  “What I’ve done and plan to do,” and “Something I’ve appreciated since we last met.”  A glance at page four of the Actions Handbook shows a drawing of the relationship between personal goals and dreams, four aspects of personal maintenance and four aspects of maintaining the world.

Beauty in strategy and synergy.   Anyone in business, sports, politics or the military has an appreciation of good strategy.  Here are three of many:  Among other goals, Mission Ball is designed to increase the pool of volunteer energy that many nonprofit organizations draw from.  It does this through the emphasis on building personal capacity and empowering others.  (First new capacity must be created, then harnessed.)  Related to this, if people start with building their capacity, even busy people will be able to fit it into their schedules.   Second, the fact that teams can generate donations, makes the program a fundraiser for different nonprofits, hence an additional source of leverage.   Finally, of course, Mission Ball uses the strategy of using a game as a means of teaching and supporting people to make positive lifestyle changes.

Beautiful use of inspiring metaphors and language.   If you turn to pages 25-40 in the Actions Handbook, you’ll find that a variety of metaphors are presented:  writing, directing and starring in your own real-life adventure-drama, being a heart surgeon, climbing a mountain to reach your goal, being a composer-conductor, and others.  There are also some inspiring quotations from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others.  Words and metaphors such as the game metaphor and the metaphor of broadcasting a signal in action are beautiful and powerful ways to inspire people to their highest potential.

Beauty in the breadth of vision.   Not only does the Action Menu present a panorama of positive actions, but any positive action that is a stretch for the participant can be part of the game.  On another level, while most programs focus on a narrow segment of the population, Mission Ball can be played by almost anybody except infants and very young children, because we can all make a stretch.  It nicely puts a 5^th grader and a CEO on the same playing field because we can all make stretches.  This makes it family-friendly.  Finally, with some cultural modifications one could easily imagine Mission Ball being played around the world.

Beautiful in the realism and harmony.  Although we all deserve equal treatment, realistically we all have different capacities and are at different stages.  Mission Ball accommodates this kind of diversity.  Mission Ball is also realistic in harnessing and affirming basic human needs, since incentives for participation include ongoing personal support, recognition for efforts, socializing and the variety of food at the potluck.  Just as the free enterprise system harnesses selfishness in a way yielding the relatively efficient distribution of goods, Mission Ball harnesses competition and ego, channeling them and putting them at the service of personal change and the empowerment of others.  Fortunately, at the same time competition is harnessed, it is harmonized with cooperation and community.  Team members support each other and cooperate in team actions.  Also, right after the competition with the other teams, there is the potluck dinner—a community-building event.  As an aside, just as other sports make money from corporations for advertising, to pay for everything from equipment to stadiums, Mission Ball could do the same, and use the money for donations to charity.

Beauty in the durability of impact and flexibility.   Because the programs is designed to be a yearly event, and because of the built-in ongoing personal support, it’s expected that many lifestyle changes that people make will endure over time. Its flexibility comes through presenting the actions as a menu that allows people freedom of choice and the ability to adapt it to their needs.  The program also can be adapted by a variety of organizations from corporations to schools to religious groups.  For instance, a corporation could add a safety list to the menu, and a religious group could add a list of practices that they are encouraging.

Beauty like a second Sun.   Imagine sunrise as the sun slowly climbs off of the horizon into the sky.  Now imagine a second fireball appearing right behind it and following it into the heavens.  A sun is a thermonuclear chain reaction and Mission Ball is a chain reaction of empowerment.  The chaining factor is built-in because recruiting people into new leagues is a part of the game.  Thus, once the design is fine-tuned, the program will probably grow and spread on its own.  My vision is that, just as the Sun is a chain reactor radiating light and warmth, Mission Ball along with other programs will form a second Sun, one radiating the light of knowledge and learning, and the warmth of compassion and caring—just when the world needs it most.

Beautiful in how compact and inexpensive it is.  If Mission Ball chain-reacts like a second Sun it will be a stunning achievement.  Yet what makes it doubly astounding is that it doesn’t take NASA, a huge launching pad, and billions of dollars launch this second Sun, it takes just a small booklet, a few handouts, and a meeting room.  The program cost?  An inexpensive $10 per person.  And the time it takes?  About two hours per week for the meeting—incredibly compact!

It only took a handful of people to get the program to the point where it can be used.  Why not join in this unfolding adventure, both for your own personal growth and fulfillment, and for the tools it offers for helping others? 

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