Hi! My name is Mark Koester. I'm a data-centric technologist based in Venice, California.
Latest Articles
Nick Chater’s Mind Is Flat challenges several core common-sense notions and beliefs about the nature of our minds and even who we are as cognitive beings. Specifically, the book argues against the idea of a deep subconscious (like an inner...
Book Review
Book Notes
Philosophy
Brain
Perception
Psychology
Self
Personal Identity
Ever wonder what happens when a software engineer and a jazz trumpeter team up in a Venice Beach music studio?
Music
Music Production
Stellar Mammals
Album Release
Lofi Beats
Focus music
Music Collaboration
There is no wrong way to make music. In fact, there are probably an infinite number of right ways to make music.
Music
Music Production
Creativity
Creative Momentum
Habits
Flow
Star Dust and Dreams is my fourth album release. I feel overjoyed to have the energy and creative chance to make more music, and, of course, to share my art for listening pleasure.
Music
Music Production
Stellar Mammals
Album Release
Lofi Beats
Focus music
Music Collaboration
How do our actions become our creations? Which of our creative inputs will add up and eventually translate into our creative outcomes? What does it take to be creatively productive?
Writing
Creativity
Writing Tracker
Tracking
Knowledge Management
Data Visualization
Quantified Self
Personal Data Analysis
Track Everything
Year-in-Review
Year-in-Data
Have you ever wondered what your conversations with AI reveal about you? In seeking a solution to a work task, accelerating your learning or just having fun, perhaps our ChatGPT conversations might reveal insights about our behavior, thoughts, aspirations, and...
Tracking
Data Visualization
Quantified Self
Personal Data Analysis
Track Everything
Year-in-Review
Year-in-Data
AI
ChatGPT
Writing
I love the first day of the year (January 1) for a rather unusual reason. The thing I’m most excited about with each new year is the gift of getting to analyze all of my tracking data and data exhaust...
Time
Time Tracking
Time Management
Tracking
Data Visualization
Quantified Self
Personal Data Analysis
Track Everything
Year-in-Review
Year-in-Data
“As an idea, authenticity is superficially simple yet definitively elusive” (p 66)
Book Review
Book Notes
Philosophy
Authenticity
Politics
Ethics
Personal Identity
History
From self-help gurus to pop psychologists, one message seems clear and nearly ubiquitous: “Be true to yourself.” Today the pursuit of authenticity has woven itself into the fabric of our culture and is championed by influential figures like Oprah Winfrey,...
Book Review
Book Notes
Philosophy
Authenticity
Politics
Ethics
Personal Identity
Is authenticity merely a veiled form of narcissism? Can we truly be authentic individuals when our focus is solely on self-fulfillment?
Book Review
Book Notes
Philosophy
Authenticity
Politics
Ethics
Communitarianism
Johann Sebastian Bach, Stephen King, David Bowie, Pablo Picasso, Brian Eno – what links these creative giants? Prolific output.
Music Production
Music
Creativity
Goals
Flow
Peak Performance
Output
Project note-taking is one of the simplest yet most powerful techniques I use to capture ideas, reflect and make progress on all of my goals. Project notes are a diary tailored for each step in the journey.
Writing
Writing Tools
Productivity
Knowledge Management
Note-Taking
Organization
Learning
Reflection
Goals
Science of Goals
Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu once wrote in “The Art of War”: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
Track Everything
Marketing
Growth Hacking
Growth Marketing
Startups
Data
Digital Marketing
Dashboards
Template
Mental Models
‘Well,’ the man said, ‘if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple.’ ‘And you really want to?’ [the girl said] ‘I think...
Philosophy
Politics
Ethics
Phenomenology
Feminism
Liberalism
Choice
Agency
Communitarianism
Energizing Instrumental Lofi Beats Music for flow, productivity and creative doings.
Music
Music Production
Stellar Mammals
Album Release
Lofi Beats
Focus music
Music Collaboration
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