All posts by Rick Randolph

I have it all figured out. I know the ingredients in the secret sauce.

At least I have it figured out for me anyway. At least for now.

At 40 years old, I finally think I know what is best for me. I have found what seems to work best for my fitness and nutrition. I know what seems to be the best way to protect myself. A few months back, I made a list of skills that I think a human should be able to do. It included things that I am already skilled at, fighting and physical training. It also included things I wanted to learn like playing an instrument and hunting and butchering an animal.

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“In order for man to succeed in life, God provided him with two means, education and physical activity. Not separately, one for the soul and the other for the body, but for the two together. With these two means, man can attain perfection.” ~ Plato

I am constantly reminded in my own life how connected my mind and body are. As my days fill up with work and other stuff, I tend to sacrifice my workouts. See, much of my work, writing, respond to emails, and coaching clients are quantifiable tasks. It’s easy to see if I’ve completed them or not. Skipping a workout, on the other hand, has no immediate visible repercussions.

What I find though, is that instead of my life getting less frantic when I skip my workouts, it becomes more frantic. Read More

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I don’t want to help my kids anymore.

I used to but now I’m over it.

A few months ago, I was on a bike ride with my two oldest (eleven and nine) and stopped by the creek to hangout and rest. They were tossing rocks and arguing about something or other. Annoyed at the bickering, I bet them $5 that they couldn’t get across the creek and back without getting their feet wet.

“Deal,” they said. Read More

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As if there weren’t enough people holding my feet to the fire, now my grade-school aged kids are doing it.

I asked them to.

The other day I was driving from the gym home and I started noticing how many people were texting while they were driving. I counted. In a seven mile drive I counted 15 people typing on their phones or reading while they were driving. There was a 16th woman who appeared to be watching a video her friend was holding for her as she drove. I didn’t count her.

I am not judging these people. I do it all the time..

My wife calls me out on it. She pointed out that the kids see me do it and soon they will be driving. They are learning by watching. I decided I wanted to change my behaviors. Read More

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When I was a police officer, I had a partner. She came from another agency where she had been the first female member of their SWAT team and a detective. By the time I met her, she had done way more as a cop than I ever would. She was one of the three or four people in my career that really wanted to teach me how to be a better cop. When we worked together, I often deferred to her knowledge and experience. Read More

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A few weeks back, I was in the doctor’s office waiting room with one of my children. I heard a father talking to his young daughter. She was teary-eyed because he had told her she had to get a shot. “It won’t hurt at all,” he told her. “You won’t even feel it.”

I wasn’t sure what kind of shot she was getting but I remember thinking to myself, “Bullshit!! Shots hurt.” Especially for a kid. Read More

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When I was working as a cop, it seemed that there was a time when everyone I ran into claimed to be an MMA fighter. “I’m a pro fighter,” they’d tell me. The problem was, that I was a fighter. I had about 20 fights. I wasn’t great — I was on TV once and no one saw it, besides I lost so I am glad — but I knew who the local fighters were. I’d never heard of any of those guys. Read More

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My first true love was a slutty drunk.

She was a lot older than me when we met. I was 18. She was engaged to her soon-to-be second husband.

And she was “damned good looking,” according to Ernest Hemingway. My first love was Lady Brett Ashley, the lead female role in The Sun Also Rises. Read More

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