Who Influences You Matters To More Than Your Recruiting Efforts
In this solo podcast episode, Richard Milligan, founder of ForC Recruiting, reflects on the end of 2019 and outlines his personal and organizational growth strategy for 2020. He revisits his 10‑year vision to impact 10,000 recruiting leaders and explains how he uses an annual personal growth plan to stretch himself beyond his past habits. Milligan distinguishes between shallow work (low‑value, reactive digital consumption) and deep work (purposeful learning, meditation, reading) and argues that habits predict future outcomes. He stresses the need to be intentional about whose voices shape his thinking, naming five core influencers he will continue to follow in 2020—John Maxwell, Ed Mylett, Craig Groeschel, Russell Brunson, and Gary Vaynerchuk. Practical tactics are offered: a weekly‑book‑a‑week reading goal, leveraging Audible during commutes, and a downloadable leadership development plan template. He contrasts a hyper‑responsive, noise‑driven lifestyle with a hyper‑focused, deep‑work mindset, urging listeners to curate their media diet, adopt high‑value habits, and surround themselves with a limited set of high‑impact mentors. The episode closes with seasonal well‑wishes and a promise to share the leadership plan document.
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Hey everybody, it's Richard Milligan here with ForC Recruiting. We're about to go live on another podcast. Thanks for checking out my YouTube channel or my Vimeo channel, wherever you're seeing this. We are going to talk about habits today. We're getting towards the end of 2019, and one of the things that I am very aware of Is just evaluating where I am right now. One of the things I do year to year is I actually put together a personal growth plan for myself. So I'm evaluating where am I at, where am I going, what do I want to accomplish, not just in the next year but the next 5 to 10 years, and how does all that play into itself. One of the things that we said when we started this organization, ForC Recruiting, is that by year 10 We wanted to impact 10,000 recruiting leaders in that 10th year. So that's a larger vision. And so each year, year to year, I evaluate that. What does that mean we need to accomplish next year to be on task with that? But then I look at some larger framework. And so if I'm going to get there, what are some of the bigger pieces that need to be in play for the organization? And what that means is that I'm stretching myself. Okay? And one of the things I know about stretching myself is that the more I stretch myself, the less likely I am to go back to being the— The old Richard, the same Richard that was that Richard in 2019, in 2018, in 2017. The longer I stretch myself, the more I actually grow. And so as I look into 2020, I'm wondering like, where should I be growing myself? Where should I be learning? Where should I be training myself, getting coached myself? What systems need to be in play for me to get to the next level? We're just complete— everything's on the table. One of the things I'm really considering is every aspect of how I coach right now, and is it playing into me getting to that next, you know, that 10,000 recruiting leaders that I would impact in a year? And one of the things that I know is that I do have to change some rather large things. That means I gotta step into more risk. I gotta grow myself as well. And so in that, I'm looking at my habits. I'm also evaluating who am I going to lend an ear to in 2020. And when I say lend an ear, what influential voices am I going to allow to speak into me? You know, today you have mentorship, you know, at just a click of a button. And so I'm looking at that and saying, like, who has something of value for me in this next season? And I will give them access to me. I'll give their voice access to me. In the upcoming year. And I think you've got to be real intentional with that because, you know, one of the quotes that has resonated with me over the last year is a quote, we're drowning in noise while starving for wisdom. And I know that to be true of most people. There's just so— the noise is so elevated today. So we're going to talk about that in our podcast. Stay tuned towards the end. I'll bring you a little extra value if you stay toward the end. This is going to be about a 10-minute video. And so we're going to go live in this as soon as I can click this next button. In 3, and in 2, and in 1. Hey everybody, welcome back! It's another Recruiting Conversations with your host, Richard Milligan, and it's a busy season. Like, if you're listening to this in rhythm, like, like in the time that it's being released, it's like the week before Christmas. And yeah, I'm pretty much all done with my Christmas shopping. It's the new version of Richard. What I would say is that the old version, if we go back like 5, 10 more years ago, I have to go back and think exactly, but there was a version of me that used to always do the Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. How's that? Most people would just want to pull their hair out even thinking about doing all the Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. And I loved it. It was like a tradition. It was just something I was going to do. It was like the hustle and the bustle. And like trying to find stuff was like a challenge. Bringing it home and wrapping it that evening, I just knew it was gonna go down. It was gonna happen like that. And so it was just an expectation. I didn't fret about it. Didn't worry about it. And then somewhere along the way, I'm not sure if I grew up or if I matured. Maybe having some kids to shop for as well plays into me being more prepared today. But man, I am pretty much done. And I will say I typically would buy something last minute, stocking stuff or something like that. So that's just gonna always happen here. But I'm pretty much done and I'm good with that too. So either way, I'm good with it. I didn't get too wound up about not having it done till Christmas Eve. But you know, I am done with it this year. And so I guess there's a minor checkmark in that box. And we all know this is a really busy season, right? So better to go into it prepared. It's about 10 days out right now that I'm recording this. I'm not here to talk to you about my Christmas shopping though. I hope you have yours done. How's that? And to those of you that are listening to this, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. Thank you so much for being a part of, uh, being part of this audience that, um, you allow me the opportunity to speak into you at some level to coach you. I guess that's really what this is here, right? Is that I'm having the opportunity to share with you the conversations that I have on a daily basis, and I'm hopeful that you found value in this this year. We've got some ideas going into 2020 where we hopefully will bring even more value to you. One of the things I want to talk about today is this: as we get closer to the end of the year, I am evaluating 2020 in a lot of different areas. When I'm evaluating my current habits, I do believe that your habits predict your future. So I'm evaluating my current habits because those will actually be indicative of where I'm going. And I've got some big aspirations with where I am and what I want to accomplish, just like many of you. And so I'm considering my current habits and I'm also considering what habits do I need to get to that next place. We'll talk a little bit about that. The other thing I'm also very aware of right now as I consider 2020 is I'm evaluating my personal growth plan, my personal development plan. If you don't have a personal growth plan for you, I highly recommend that you put one in play. The reason why I highly recommend you put one in play is because no one else is really going to do it for you. Maybe that's not an all-true statement because maybe you're in a role where you've got a great leader and that leader does put some sort of leadership growth plan in place for you. But what I would say is, over the course of the years of having spent from the age of 19 to the age of 44 inside corporate America, I know that it was rare for me to actually have a personal growth plan that was actually put together or being helped or helped putting together through the leadership that I had. And so, all the growth that took place was ultimately on me. And who better to really have put that in place? Because like, I know where I'm at, I know where I'm struggling, I know where I want to go better than anybody. And so I'll share a little bit with you around that, because as part of that personal growth plan, you really have to be careful who you're allowing to have a voice into your life. Today, there's a statement that really resonates with me, and it is that we're drowning In noise while starving for wisdom. And one of the reasons why we're drowning in noise is because we allow that noise into our life, right? It doesn't matter where it comes through— YouTube, Facebook, Instagram. I mean, those 3 alone. I've got the recommendations on YouTube that show up every single time I'm there. I've got the advertisements that come into my news feeds. On Instagram and Facebook every time I'm there. Just even, I think one of the things that I'm aware of is that anytime I'm speaking or have an opportunity to engage with people for any amount of time, one of the normal questions that comes up after the speaking event or after engaging with people is, what are some books that you're reading? Or, what are some books that you recommend? And I would dare say people are asking that because as soon as I recommend them, they're going to move towards them. One of the things I've done over the years I think has been of value to me is that when someone says, oh, you should check out this book, it has gone on a list. So I have a list of books that I need to check out and I need to evaluate, do I want to actually read? But I don't just move towards those books. The reason why is that I have a personal growth plan. I'll talk about that for you in a second. Let's talk about habits. Because I made that statement, your habits predict your future. And I do think that it's really easy to look at where we are currently with our habits and say, like, the daily rhythm, our daily routines are going to play a part in where we're going. A perfect example of this is that data shows that people who wake up early are more successful. So if people wake up early are more successful, why wouldn't I want to wake up early? Well, ultimately, my brain's kind of lazy, and if I let it do what it wanted to, it'd probably sleep till 9 AM every single day. And so I recognize that waking up early is just a simple habit that can be a predictor of me being on the right path to winning, on the right path to success. I think a nice framework for this that I've seen recently is that there are 2 types of habits or 2 types of work that people do That really define whether you're going to win or whether you're not going to win. The framework that I saw was this: shallow work and deep work. Now, shallow work is going to be things that are low value. So, when I'm looking at my life, low value would be how much time am I spending in the digital space? How much time am I spending watching television? How much time am I spending on social media? Yes, social media is necessary if you're going to have a leadership brand, but I'm looking at that going, how much low-value time am I investing into social media where I'm just skimming? I'm not there with intent. I'm not there with purpose. I'm just waiting for the next like. I'm waiting for the next comment, or I'm skimming to see what's on that— what's inside the platform, and I'm moving from content piece to content piece with really no intent. One of the things I know about shallow work is that it's actually pretty common. Most people do it consistently. As an example of that, most people we know today roll over after the alarm clock rings, and the first thing they do is check social media. That's common. Shallow work is very common. Most people do it. It's low value. Those are a couple things that identify Habits that are shallow and what we want are habits that are what are defined as deep work. This means that it's not going to be easy. It's going to be hard. If I didn't actually map my brain to go to these places, it's not going to go there on their own. It's not going to go there on its own. For example, meditation. Finding a quiet place to actually create white space so that I'm not just jumping from one thing to the next thing to the next thing, deep in thought. This stuff is rare. Deep work is rare, but it's high value. I think one great example of this is how much time are you investing into reading? How much time are you investing into growing yourself, listening to podcasts? Watching or listening to YouTube videos that are aligned with your personal development, your personal growth plan. I bring that up here because if you don't have that plan in place as part of these habits, then you will end up somewhere, but it won't be where you want to end up. It won't be the intentional place that you want to end up. I know for me, because I have a 10-year vision, That 10-year vision is enormous. The only way that I'm going to get there is if I'm very intentional in the year-to-year about developing myself. And then on the flip side of that, identifying a handful of people that I actually give my ear to, that I allow that space inside my head to. So one of the things that you should be evaluating right now is this: How many people are you giving voice to that brain space that you have, where you're doing your deep work, where you're doing things that are high value? One of the things I'm cautious in is not to allow too many people the opportunity to have a voice into my life. I do that in the real world, but then I'm also intentional about doing this in the digital world. I'm going to give you an example. Of 5 voices that I allow consistently into my life in that virtual space, in that digital space. And I think you should consider this, and here's why. These 5 voices are influential. I allow them to have influence into me because they are ahead of the path. They are ahead on this path of life, and they're in places where I want to be. Why would I allow Someone who's in the exact same place as me or even behind me, why would I lend that person a voice into my life? It doesn't mean I can't have relationship with them. It doesn't mean I can't walk in community with some people that, that are equal to me. But we do know that statistically we are— we will never achieve above the average of the 5 people that we surround ourselves with, right? With the people that we give influence and draw life. I've taken that number 5 and I've just played this into what 5 voices am I going to allow to speak to me in this virtual space in 2020. Here were 5 voices that I allowed in 2019. One of those is John Maxwell. John Maxwell has been someone who's been a voice for me for a long time. It's just, there is There's just a level of maturity that John Maxwell brings that no one else can bring. Here is a man who has— I don't know what he's written, like 80+ books. He's really the number one thought leader on leadership. I remember John Maxwell's 101 books. I had his 101 Mentorship book in the left-hand drawer. I can even tell you, I can even visualize where it's at in my office drawer where I had it there for probably a decade. In a long season where I really was lacking leadership, I would actually go pick up that Mentorship 101 book and I would open that up. I had it highlighted, I had sticky notes, I had labels stuck in it with my sticky notes. When I came up against something and I needed some information or I needed a voice into my life, John Maxwell is where I would go for that. John Maxwell is one of those voices that I allow. In fact, one of those voices that combined this within the last year for a great content piece is another voice. His name is Ed Mylett. And if you're familiar with Ed Mylett, he is the fastest-growing influencer in social media today. And Ed joined up and did a podcast and a live video with John Maxwell, and there was just something really special about that. If you haven't seen it, you can go to YouTube and actually Just search Ed Mylett and John Maxwell, and that's a great content piece I think that every leader should check out. But Ed Mylett's another voice— highly inspirational, very practical. He has already vetted people that he's interviewing. The interviews that he does are dynamic. I mean, that's a voice that I'm going to allow in my life again in 2020. Here's one, Craig Groeschel. So for the last 20-plus years, I have gone to a place, to a church, Life.Church, which is the fastest-growing church in the United States. Craig Groeschel is the pastor of that church, but Craig is a dynamic leader and actually has a heart for the business world. And so if you check out his podcast, Craig is someone that gives phenomenal framework for leaders and how they can grow and how they can develop themselves and how they can develop people underneath their care. And so Craig Groeschel is another voice. Here's one that a lot of you may not have heard of just because of— I know my audience and where you've been, but Russell Brunson. Russell Brunson built a company by the name of ClickFunnels from zero to the valuation of about $1 billion, I think in 6 years. I have listened to every one of Russell Brunson's, I think it's like 280 podcasts. Today, I've read both of his books. He's in the process of releasing his 3rd book. I've watched probably hundreds of hours of his videos. That's a voice and there's a very specific reason. Not because Russell's dynamic, but he is, but because he has content that I need to grow myself to get to a place where I want to be. Here's another one, Gary Vee. Now, Gary Vaynerchuk is not someone that I listen to with my kids around. So, this isn't— Not an endorsement necessarily of Gary Vee, but one of the things I know about Gary Vee is that he knows social media better than anybody today. That's a really bold statement for me to actually make that, but I do believe that he knows social media better than anyone today. An area that I've really focused is growing my leadership brand, growing my personal brand. So, I have taken in hundreds of hours of content. From Gary Vee. We walk through that. I've just given you 5 voices that I allowed to speak into my business, into my headspace in 2019. When I get to these places where you can really get lost, which is book lists that people recommend, and you get into the recommended videos on YouTube, and you get into other people's favorite podcasts, and you go to Facebook and everybody's sponsoring an ad, Advertising to you, and you see all of these shared videos or these shared content pieces. It can become overwhelming. And when we get there, we're drowning in the noise while we're starving for wisdom. And so the only way that you can glean the wisdom that you need in the upcoming year is if you're really intentional, if you're really specific. You have a limited amount of time in a day. You've got to be intentional with that. And so where I would encourage you in this podcast is have a leadership development plan that's very specific. So let me give you an example of this. I will map out every book that I will read for 2020 by the end of 2019, and that will be based off of where I want to grow in 2020. Now, what I would say is that my objective is to read a book per week, and that may sound like a lot, But the average American spends— 97% of Americans actually listen to the radio when they're in the car. So, number one, boom, I can just put a checkmark in the box, I don't listen to the radio. I love what Brian Tracy called it back in the '90s, he called it bubblegum for the ears. So, checkmark, radio turned off, and the average commute in the United States is 45 minutes one way. So, if I just said— now, I don't commute because I have a home office. But if I just said, like, just if you're the person that's commuting to your office and you said, I will listen to something Audible on my way to work and on my way home from work, you're at 90 minutes of content that you can take in per day. The average book that I read on Audible, which by the way, if you're not on Audible, man, I would highly recommend either being on Audible or figuring out something in place of Audible where you can listen to books. The average book I listen to on Audible is around 6 hours. Now, there's some that are longer than that, but there's some that are shorter than that. Jon Gordon's book One Word, which is a phenomenal book, is 55 minutes. So, if you meet in the middle and you just say, hey, the average book I'm going to take in is around 6 hours long, then just in a normal work week, in just a matter of like 3 or 4 days, you can actually take in a book. So, this isn't that hard and this isn't as enormous as we think it is, but it does mean That I've got to have different habits and those habits are going to predict where I'm going in the future. Look, what I would say is this, is I— 3 years ago and the guy that I was just even 3 years ago, and that's like 150+ books ago, the guy that I was 3 years ago versus the guy that I am today, I don't even recognize that person. Okay, the reason why I don't recognize is because I've grown enormously in this season. We're just in this information age. Where it's just at our fingertips. There's no reason, thanks to Google and YouTube and tools like Audible and tools like a podcast app, that we can't grow wherever we want to grow in this era. That would be my big encouragement for you here is reevaluate your habits. What habits do you need to change going into 2020 to get where that future you needs to be or where you want that future you to be? Another one is identify the voices that you will take in in 2020. You get to move from this place now of being hyper-responsive, which is where most people are today. I mean, the average American spends 144 minutes on social media. We're hyper-responsive and we move to a place where we're hyper-focused. The person who's hyper-focused has more clarity. The person who is hyper-focused is doing high-value things that are actually Growing them to a place that they probably didn't believe they could actually get. And what I would say is this: the person who's hyperfocused is actually rare. This is not something that's very common. It's not even the 1 percenters. I use that term 1 percenters because I think that the 1 percenters do things that are different, but I would dare say that the majority of even the 1 percenters today are all over the place when it comes to the number of voices that they allow to speak into their life. We're just this endless, endless chasing. Here's what I know. The person who is hyper-focused, that's not doing this shallow work, that's doing the deep work, this is a person who has no problem finding fulfillment. This is a person who has no problem finding joy in what they're doing. The people that are chasing this noise are the ones that feel empty. That feel exhausted. And so for me, one of the things that I am actually looking at, one of the things that I'll move towards again in 2020, is doing deep work, is actually having defined habits that I will follow, and then having a limited number of voices that I allow to speak in my life. So I won't talk to you again until after Christmas. Gang, Merry Christmas to you. It is such an amazing season. If you've got a family, then, you know, I'm hopeful that you get to spend all kinds of amazing time with them and enjoy that. If you don't have a family, find someone that you can walk in community with in this season. We've had some weird seasons of our own life, Leah and I have, before we had kids. And I would— I go back to some of the memories that we created in some of those seasons. They were some of the coolest memories ever. Find someone to inspire, find someone to encourage, find someone to lift up in this season. I saw a data piece today which was the amount of negative information, the growth of negative information on social media in this season. And so we need encouraging people around us, and what better time to be— for that to be visible than the season of Christmas, which is a season that should be filled with joy. And so until the next podcast, have a great week, everybody. Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas. And we will talk to you between the week of Christmas and New Year's. So look forward to sharing another podcast with you then. Thanks for listening, everyone. I'm back. Merry Christmas to you and to yours. You know, I'm hopeful that you get some time away, right? Christmas falls on a Wednesday this year, so it's kind of an odd time, kind of the middle of the week. And maybe that means you get more time away, maybe it means you get less time away. It means something different for everybody, I know, depending on where they are. But, you know, hopefully that you will find joy in the season, and I'll look forward to coming back here again next time. One of the things I'm gonna— I will share as part of this, I'll include a link to a document below, and it's my own leadership development plan. I'll share that with you. I'll share the template of that with you with some examples on there. Of what it could look like. And if you're saying, hey, I'm coming across this video and I would love to actually go a step further and actually create my own leadership development plan for 2020, then there will be a link below with that document there. And so check it out and hopefully there's some value in that for you. Until I talk to you again another time on another video or on Recruiting Conversations, our podcast, have a great week, everybody.
