Cherishing Your Time: The Kekich Credos

By Jonah Goldberg


In his 20s, venture capitalist and serial entrepreneur David Kekich was a fitness fanatic. Having just moved to California, he filled his time outside of work with lifting weights, long-distance running and developing nutrition regiments through trial and error. At age 35, however, Kekich collapsed in pain during his normal workout routine. He had a rare spinal canal hematoma, and suddenly he found himself paralyzed from the chest down.


Kekich spent 15 months traveling the world, seeking treatments that would get him out of a wheelchair. He returned home defeated and depressed, and he remained in that state for a few years. One day, Kekich recounted in an interview, he was filling out a routine survey from a newsletter he was subscribed to, and he paused at the question, “Do you exercise regularly?” Kekich answered yes. He realized he was still not ready to let go of that part of his identity. So he followed through, immediately grabbing some wrist weights and waving his arms, the first step to a renewed commitment to fitness.


Kekich’s creative mindset and dedication were back. He organized the Eastern U.S. Powerlifting Championships, a fundraiser for the local chapter of the Spinal Cord Society—a chapter that he founded. The success of the event, he recalled, “made me realize that I still had my brain left. And that woke me up."


Having faced the possibility of his own death, and dealing with the deaths of thousands of others in his life insurance work, Kekich shifted his focus to aging research. He founded the Maximum Life Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to reversing the effects of aging, and had a pivotal investing role in multiple companies aimed at treating age-related diseases.


At the request of his friend Joe Polish, founder of the Genius Network, Kekich distilled the lessons from his difficult experiences into the Kekich Credos, 100 short principles for business and life.


Despite the progress he made toward accelerating aging research, Kekich passed away at age 78 in September 2021. He lives on through the Kekich Credos, which have circulated in self-help and entrepreneurship groups online.


The full list does not take long to read through, and I personally have it bookmarked to revisit every couple months. However, I want to highlight three themes that resurface across the 100 items, driving at the values that underlie Kekich’s success.



44. An hour of effective, precise, hard, disciplined — and integrated thinking can be worth a month of hard work. Thinking is the very essence of, and the most difficult thing to do in business and in life.


Kekich was known among his friends as being incredibly busy, between managing investments, organizing fundraising events and disseminating aging research. Yet he recognized that he needed to slow down to speed up, and set time aside to reflect and think through decisions and be mindful of his long-term goals. Here are a few other credos that reflect this mindset:


9. A little caution avoids great regrets. Expect the best and prepare for the worst. Keep fully insured physically and materially and keep hedged emotionally. Insurance is not for sale when you need it.


13. Protect your downside. The upside will take care of itself. Cut your losses short — and let your profits run. This takes tremendous discipline.


29. Most accomplishment (and problem avoidance) is built on clear persuasive communication. That includes knowing each other’s definitions, careful listening, thinking before talking, focused questioning and observing your feedback. Become a communications expert.


53. Spend more time working “on” your business than “in” your business.


64. Review the basics of your profession at least once per year.




3. Think carefully before making any offers, commitments or promises, no matter how seemingly trivial. These are all contracts and must be honored. These also include self-resolutions.


Acting in a conscientious manner can reduce your own emotional stress as well as improve your relationships and reputation, leading to a longer and more fulfilling life. But Kekich would be the first to acknowledge that this is much easier said than done in stressful or seemingly unfair situations. These credos stem from a philosophy shared by Ray Dalio and many religious texts, one which also ties into the value of preparedness — when we choose rules or principles to hold ourselves to, then they can help us make the better decision in the moment, instead of us having to figure out how to navigate each unique case.


5. Always show gratitude when earned, monetarily when possible.


31. If there is not a conscious struggle to be honest in difficult situations, you are probably being dishonest. Characters aren’t really tested until things aren’t going well or until the stakes are high.


49. Have strict and total respect for other people’s property. 


77. Always work on increasing the size of the pie, rather than just your portion.


87. The surest way to accomplish your business and personal goals is making service to others your primary goal. The key to success is adding value to others’ lives. Success unshared is failure. 




33. If the situation is not right in the long term, walk away from it. Maintain a long-term outlook in all endeavors. Live like you don’t have much time left ... but plan as if you’ll live for centuries.


Kekich was an optimistic advocate for both radical life-extension research and steps we can take in the meantime to give ourselves another 10-15 healthy years — namely, taking care of ourselves physically and emotionally. After all, if we prioritize working harder over all else, we actually stop putting out our best work. These credos are reminders of the big picture, that the point of investing and improving is not productivity for its own sake but rather to become able to create the meaningful experiences and change we care about.


26. Religiously nourish your body with proper nutrition, exercise, recreation, sleep and relaxation techniques.


35. Stress kills. No matter how painful in the short-term, remove all chronically stressful situations, environments and people from your life.


52. Outside of yourself, you control nothing … but you can manage anything. Don’t be preoccupied with things over which you have no control, and don’t take things personally.


55. Enjoy life.Treat it as an adventure. Care passionately about the outcome, but keep it in perspective. Things are seldom as bleak as they seem when they are going wrong — or as good as they seem when they are going well. Lighten up.You’ll live longer.


7. You’re successful when you like who and what you are. Success includes achievement … while choosing and directing your own activities. It means enjoying intimate relationships and loving what you do in life.



Many of us carry with us our own principles or mission statements, whether they are implicit values or explicit lists we have written, in order to live conscientiously and consciously. My rules range from serious to silly. For example:


Please feel free to share one of your personal credos.