EXT.COM Announces the Mission Adaptive Plans: A Tool to Harness the Internet for Good
The Mission Adaptive Plan (or MAP) is an idea that seeks to harness the power of the Internet and social networking media in an effort to help people realize their dreams, goals, and true potential. The MAP can really be described as social networking with a purpose.
When a person undergoes a new task, or when that person decides that it is finally time to start working on a long held goal, or when a person is met with a new challenge of which they have never dealt with before, certain things have to be accomplished. Those accomplishments on the way to completing a task, meeting a goal, or facing the challenge all meld together to form a process. This process, however, is what often scares most people away from facing an issue head on. People may feel that the process is too long, too confusing, or they do not think that they can face their issue alone. By harnessing the power of the Internet and social networking concepts, the Mission Adaptive Plan builds communities for those seeking to accomplish a goal or task and those who have already accomplished the goal or task. Those facing life challenges are put in virtual contact with others who are either facing those same challenges or those who have already faced those challenges.
The Mission Adaptive Plan refers to those seeking to meet goals and face challenges as “beneficiaries”, because they are the ones who will benefit from the information. Through a network of volunteers, known as “contributors”, the beneficiary is assisted with meeting their goal or facing their challenge. The process is initiated when a user signs up for a MAP social networking type of site and identifies his or her goal or challenge. From that point, the user’s profile can be made public to allow others who wish to act as volunteers along the way show their support. Depending on the goal or challenge to be attained or faced, a “to do” type of list will display itself to the user and the volunteers, to track the beneficiary’s progress. The checklist is where the role of the volunteer comes into play. If there are any items that need to be accomplished on the check list, but the beneficiary does not know where to begin, then the beneficiary can turn to any of the volunteers to ask for assistance. Because of the fact that the volunteers will often be those who have already faced the challenge or accomplished the goal, they are that much better suited to lead the beneficiary along the way and more able to relate to the confusion of the beneficiary. For example, if a task calls for a type of research, but the beneficiary is not able, for whatever reason, to accomplish the research, the beneficiary can ask a volunteer to conduct the research for them or point them in the right direction for getting the research done (i.e., offering helpful websites or a list of useful books for the beneficiary to look into).
Those volunteers who are helping the beneficiary along the way are allowed to see the “to do” list of the beneficiary. The reason that volunteers are allowed to see the personal “to do” list of the beneficiary is two fold. First, the volunteers are able to act as a support system for the beneficiary, offering more than just advice, but also words of encouragement. Those words of encouragement can be offered as needed, based on the progress of the beneficiary. The other reason that volunteers are given access to the “to do” list of the beneficiary is because it allows volunteers to look ahead on the MAP to see what tasks await the beneficiary. This allows volunteers to offer assistance by initiating what they can for the beneficiary before the beneficiary has to ask for help. This eliminates the need for the beneficiary having to ask for help (possible pride issues may get in the way) and saves time for the beneficiary in the long run, especially if the task at hand is time crucial.
When the beneficiary is completed with his or her task, or is fully prepared to face their own personal challenge, the “to do” list of the MAP will have been completed. At that point, the beneficiary becomes one who is no longer seeking information or assistance, but one who can offer information and assistance.
By displaying the necessary steps that need to be taken to accomplish a goal or task in a visual format, people are better able to track their progress and plan for further progress accordingly. The use of volunteers to offer advice, words of encouragement, and personal experiences allows those starting out on a task a support system that otherwise may not have existed offline. Mission Adaptive Plans harness the power of the Internet and seek to exploit available social networking formats to the fullest extent to help as many people meet as many goals and face as many challenges as possible.