The Hero’s Journey
What is the Hero’s Journey?
The hero’s journey is a tale that describes a hero who goes out on an adventure and faces a number of challenges and oppositions but finally returns home victorious having been changed by the experience. The hero’s journey is a globally accepted model since it applies to almost every quest that human beings take. Human beings encounter challenges on a daily basis and there is need to strategize themselves so as to emerge victorious at the end. The hero’s journey describes the steps that one ought to follow to enable personal growth and inhibit negative influences. Students are faced with difficult times while pursuing their careers. They experience a lot of external pressure from both tutors and colleagues. Hence the need for this Hero’s journey. They ought to strive to excel through these unpleasant conditions.

Importance of the Hero’s Journey to my career and reputation.

The Hero’s Journey is a very important aspect of one’s career since it guides you on the things you ought to do so as to emerge victorious like a Hero in Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. After its publication, the tale has helped many people excel in their careers, and I am not exceptional. As for my reputation, the tale, which at first may seem like a mythological story, will assist me in overcoming each obstacle I encounter. This will help me scale the ladder of success.

Why dilemma is a critical step in the journey.

At some point in life, we are faced with the choice of choosing between two or more options. In the Hero’s Journey tale, the character too faces the same ordeal when he chose to decline the Call. Dilemma is an important aspect of one’s career since it drives you to think critically so as to make the wisest decision that will propel you along your journey.

Steps in the Hero’s Journey
The Hero’s Journey is a 12 step journey that the Hero takes till he finally ends his quest and emerges victorious. The steps are; The Ordinary World, The Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting with the Mentor, Crossing the First Threshold, Tests, Allies and Enemies, Approach, the Ordeal, Seizing the Sword, Apotheosis and Resurrection, The Road Back, Return with the Elixir and the Master of the two Worlds. These steps are clearly seen in movies and other mythological tales today. The ordinary world is where the hero’s journey started. An example is in the movie, ‘The Wizard of Oz’, where Dorothy Gale, a character was living on her farm. The second step is characterized by Harry Potter in ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ where he receives a letter from Hogwarts to go on a journey. In the movie, ‘Star Wars’, Luke Skywalker refuses to go to Alderaan. In the ‘Karate Kid’, meeting with the mentor is characterized by Daniel LaRusso meeting Mr. Miyagi. Crossing the first threshold is evident in ‘Fight Club’ where the Narrator walks into Durden’s house for the first time. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ character, Frodo leaves Rivendell with his company and faces enemies, tests and makes aliases. The Approach step is characterized by Neo and Trinity when they conducted preparations before the rescue of Morpheus in ‘The Matrix’. Dorothy battled the wicked witch in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and this was her ordeal since it was a fierce battle. The step, ‘Seizing the sword’, is demonstrated in ‘The Hobbit’, where the dwarves collect the dragon’s treasure after its demise. Apotheosis is a stage where a character literally or symbolically dies to embrace a new self. The Narrator in ‘Fight Club’ is forced to kill himself to as to overcome his opponent. After a successful conquest, Frodo returns back to his initial home and takes some time to adapt to the living conditions. This is the Read Back. The last step, ‘Return with the Elixir’ is depicted in ‘Return of the Jedi’ where Luke assists in instilling peace to the galaxy (From Mythology to Masculinity: How the Hero’s Journey Can Help You Become a Better Man, 2017).

Business Improvement Proposal
Importance of BIP to a Business
A business improvement proposal is a document sent to a potential client to suggest improvement in some specific aspects. The requirements are clearly stated. If the intended recipient of the BIP accepts the proposal, then the suggested adjustments can be made. The business improvement proposal is a very important aspect of a business, especially one that is growing, to identify and make improvements on the highlighted elements (Admin, 2016).

A business improvement proposal should be well written with clearly stated and comprehensible buyer requirements and this will enable the seller to deliver high quality work with all the requirements of the buyer delivered. This will help the business scale, high above its competitors. In addition, a properly written business improvement proposal will assist in planning the time frame within which the job should be completed and the amount of money required to complete the task thus avoiding confusions and complications. While writing a business improvement proposal, a buyer usually indicates the available resources that can be utilized to generate optimum output. It helps in limiting the misuse of these resources, therefore ensuring good conduct (Admin, 2016).
The business improvement proposal is a great tool that needs to be implemented by businesses to ensure growth. Businesses encounter stumbling blocks during their grown and the solutions to these problems lies in prospective clients. By writing a great BIP with all requirements included, a business will be able to get rid of the limitations along the way and improve the quality of service it offers. The language used in writing a business improvement proposal is usually persuasive and eye catching. Sellers should clearly see the outlined requirements and see if they will be able to deliver. In the case of a poorly written business improvement proposal, the business might not get the expected results of the improvement (Admin, 2016).

Importance of the elements of a BIP
A proposal’s success is based on whether all elements in the proposal were critically thought out before being written and submitted to the seller. All parts of the proposal are equally significant and should be handled with a lot of weight while writing. The first part describes the current situation of the business and the challenges it is facing that inhibits its progress. The seller gets to know everything about the problem the business is facing by just reading this part. If it contains insufficient information, the business might stick to this position for some time. A business proposal ought to have the business goals listed that are expected once the situation is rectified. An example of a goal that may be relevant to include in the proposal is to increase sales. Another critical aspect of a business proposal is the proposition of the methodology that will be used to solve the current problem. It should be well written to give the seller insight on how they should implement these procedures to solve the problem. An example is a business that has experienced theft from its employees. The methodology might include increment of the employee’s salary and enabling them to know that they can earn more so as to stop stealing. Time and cost are an essential element to boost persuasion. The seller is able to know the time within which the task will be completed and the resources required. The background information should be sufficient to convince the seller that the current situation is valid. An example is describing the experience one has had in the business and the trends they have witnessed. The BIP ought to describe the benefits that will be realized if the proposed procedures are implemented to the letter. The benefits may include increase in sales therefore increase in wealth. If the benefits are appealing, the proposal will be accepted. The last part of a BIP is the limitations part. It should state the limitations the proposed methodology will face during the entire process such as high initialization cost.

Seek First to Understand, then to be understood & active-reflective listening
Most people seek to be understood first before they understand their fellows hence deteriorating communication. For individuals to interact effectively, they have to seek to be understood first before seeking to be understood. When one shows interest in the other person’s point of view trust is generated.
Importance
Seeking to understand other parties is very important. Firstly, it helps people to avoid conveying information that they will regret later. Answering questions and making statements without taking time to understand what others are trying to communicate is very dangerous. One can end up uttering unnecessary words and regret later. An individual who seeks to understand first listens attentively and even ask for clarification before answering any question or making a statement to avoid contradictions. Secondly, seeking to understand helps people to learn more. Those people who seek to understand agree that they know nothing and hence listen attentively ready to learn a new thing. Lastly, those who engage in seeking first to understand, then to be understood increases their intelligence in understanding their fellow’s emotions. This is possible since in order to understand others one has to seek and understand how they feel CITATION See18 l 1033 (Seek First to Understand, n.d.).

Relating the concept to the concept of active, reflective listening
Reflective listening is where an individual listens and understands the speakers’ ideas, then reflects back the idea to show that it is understood CITATION Kat94 l 1033 (Katz ; Nulty, 1994). This concept relates clearly to seek to understand and then to be understood. Firstly, in both the listener has to understand the speaker’s point of view clearly. Secondly, when you use the two concepts the speaker feels heard. Lastly, both can be used when helping someone who is in a great problem.
Mirroring someone’s emotions
According to HOFFELD GROUP mirroring is when a person subtly emulates aspects of another person’s verbal or non-verbal behavior CITATION HOF l 1033 (GROUP). For someone’s emotions to be understood mirror neuron system (MNS) is basically used. Mirror neurons are activated when one observes a certain behavior or does the behavior. Mirroring someone’s emotions can be described as observing and understanding another person’s emotions and imitating. It is important since it helps to generate a good interaction. It also creates a rapport between individuals. It can be used in a situation where by babies try to emulate emotions from the adults as they grow. CITATION Pfe07 l 1033 (Pfeifer, Iacoboni, Mazziotta, ; Dapretto, 2007). An example is where an individual watches a sorrowful video and end up crying.
Conversation
Conversing with people can be sometimes a waste of time. However, when some techniques are implemented, they transform it to be a meaningful conversation. One of these techniques is going with the flow. The speaker should ensure that there is no diversion from the ideas. This helps the listeners to clearly follow and understand the speakers’ main ideas. There are some speakers who usually divert from the main ideas and start giving out different stories. For example, if the topic is based on politics the speaker might divert and start talking about law and hence interfering with the flow of ideas. The speaker should not multitask. For a meaningful conversation the speaker should not do several things at the same time trying to converse with people. Listeners minds might be carried away by the extra things that the speaker is doing rather than what the speaker is conveying. An example is where the speaker is talking to people and at the same time the speaker is drinking tea. Listening is also a very important aspect for a meaningful conversation. Both the speaker and the listener should listen to one another. This brings out a meaningful conversation since each party takes time to listen and answer questions and makes statements without contradictions. There some cases where both parties want to talk. Nobody has time to listen to the other person point of view. To some extent people ends up pretending to be listening and instead they are preparing what to say back in their minds. They end up shouting rather than conversing since each individual wants to bring out an idea. Conversing without repetition of ideas is very important. When the speaker involves repetition in the conversation the listeners ends up getting bored and can even move away from the conversation. For instance, the speaker is talking about his favorite dish. If he keeps on mentioning how he loves that kind of a meal, he will become very monotonous and the speakers will get bored
Resumes and Cover letters
Appropriate role of resume and cover letter in job hunting
A resume is a method used by job seekers to sell themselves in the market and to finally win you a job interview. If written well, it should be unique from the rest of the job seekers who have applied for the same position you are applying for. An appealing resume may land one a good job. It should highlight once Educational achievements, skills, personal strengths, interests, and achievements.

The cover letter on the other hand, is a letter that the applicants use to convince the employer why they should hire them and where they heard about the job post. It should be sent alongside the resume. The key purpose of the cover letter is to target the job and the employer in general.

What the resume and cover letter are designed to effectively accomplish
A resume is designed to sell an individual to their potential employer by listing the skills they possess, the educational achievements and work history. A well-crafted resume may assure job seekers of landing job interviews and ultimately a job. A cover letter is designed to inform the employer that you are certain of the post you are applying for and also to inform them where you learnt about the post.

What resumes and cover letters do not accomplish.

Despite the great accomplishments that a good resume and cover letter have, there are other things that they cannot accomplish. As much as a resume describes your experience, the employer cannot be fully certain that you can accomplish what you claim. Therefore, interviews are used for this purpose.

A cover letter should outline why your skills are fit for you to be hired and what advantages will you bring to the company if you get hired. One should use this opportunity to advertise himself and the experience they have in the specific field. (4 Goals your Cover Letter should Accomplish, 2013).

How technology has changed the application and use of resumes
Advancements in technology have modified the way employers to pick job seekers. Having received job applications, employers use social media sited that the job seekers have signed up for and countercheck details such as employment history and education. An example of such social media site is LinkedIn. If accurate information has been mentioned in the resume, one may have a higher chance of being hired (To Land a Job, Know How Employers Use Technology to Hire, n.d.).

Employers seek to conduct a background check on a potential employee to make sure they are without past bad behavior and are trustworthy. Having a good history and great accomplishments may raise one’s chance of getting hired while a bad record may hinder one from getting the job. Sometimes employers make use of online databases that store resumes that are submitted to many companies to search for keywords in the resume CITATION Joy18 l 1033 (To Land a Job, Know How Employers Use Technology to Hire, n.d.).

The most important part of the Experience section of the resume
The most important part of the employment section of the resume is the list of responsibilities that you had while in employment at the specified firm. This will prove whether you are fit for this job or not. One should ensure that they have listed all key responsibilities.
References
BIBLIOGRAPHY 4 Goals your Cover Letter should Accomplish. (2013, December 5). Retrieved April 30, 2018, from WORK IT DAILY: https://www.workitdaily.com/cover-letter-introduction-goals/
Admin. (2016, March 1). Importance of Writing a Professional Business Proposal. Retrieved April 30, 2018, from RJMA: http://rjma.com/the-importance-of-writing-a-professional-business-proposal/
From Mythology to Masculinity: How the Hero’s Journey Can Help You Become a Better Man. (2017, November 27). Retrieved from The Art of Manliness: https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/heros-journey/
GROUP, H. (n.d.). Mirror More. Sell More.

Katz , N., & Nulty, K. M. (1994). Reflective Listening .

Pfeifer, J. H., Iacoboni, M., Mazziotta, J. c., & Dapretto, M. (2007, November 4). Mirroring others’ emotions relates to empathy and interpersonal competence in children. Neuroimage, 2076-2085.

Seek First to Understand. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2018, from https://medium.com/personal-growth/seek-first-to-understand-8db03445dbf0
To Land a Job, Know How Employers Use Technology to Hire. (n.d.). (S. P. Joyce, Producer) Retrieved April 30, 2018, from HIFFPOST: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-p-joyce/job-search-technology_b_5037152.html
BIBLIOGRAPHY GROUP, H. (n.d.). Mirror More. Sell More.

Katz , N., ; Nulty, K. M. (1994). Reflective Listening .

Pfeifer, J. H., Iacoboni, M., Mazziotta, J. c., ; Dapretto, M. (2007, November 4). Mirroring others’ emotions relates to empathy and interpersonal competence in children. Neuroimage, 2076-2085.

Seek First to Understand. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2018, from https://medium.com/personal-growth/seek-first-to-understand-8db03445dbf0