Mark Koester

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

Was AI Included?

Authenticity Philosophy Ethics Social Norms Code of Ethics Attribution Creativity Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT AI

Who truly “creates” when we use AI in our art and work?

Authenticity Reflection Philosophy Ethics Social Norms Creativity Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT AI

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

If you dedicate just 30 minutes a day to book reading for a year, you can easily finish between 30 and 40 books in a year.

Books Book Reading Tracking Data Visualization Quantified Self Personal Data Analysis Track Everything Year-in-Review Year-in-Data

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

Let’s stop asking AI for answers and start asking it for questions.

Authenticity Reflection Self-Awareness Journaling Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT AI Data-Driven You

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

Ever tried assembling a puzzle without the image on the box?

Track Everything Marketing Growth Hacking Growth Marketing Startups Data Digital Marketing Dashboards

‘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

Awhile back I was walking along a beach when I came upon a series of heaped rocks stacked on top of each other. In English we can refer to these man-made piles of stones by the Gaelic term, cairn. In...

Self Self-Improvement Purpose Introspection Abroad Reflection Decade-in-Review Travel