Writer, Product Designer, and Software Engineer
Hi! My name is Mark Koester. I'm a data-centric technologist based in Venice, California.
I’ll admit that I sometimes feel guilty when I struggle to be productive. A few days ago, after a rough night of sleep and a productive-but-not-particularly-demanding morning, I struggled to get back to work after lunch. I knew what I...
I often treat my blog writing and even simple book review posts like they need to be 2000+ word opuses involving research, sophisticated arguments and deep philosophical engagement. The end result is that I have read hundreds of books and...
Even though I had finished dozens of songs and released 6 albums, I dreaded working on my latest music album. I didn’t even want to open Ableton, my music production software. I couldn’t get myself to do even the simplest...
“Think of life as a series of dots” - Alfred Adler I read “The Courage to Be Disliked” in mid-2024, and it has quickly become one of the books I most often recommend, alongside Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning....
What metric are you currently hiding from?
Whether it’s learning a new skill, building something meaningful, or making music – the path to reaching your goals and dreams is forwards and towards.
Time management is a zero-sum game. Every hour invested in one area is an hour divested from something else.
The books I read each year often unfold like maps and trails—shaped by the places I visit, the questions I’m wrestling with, and the stories that find me along the way.
Why doesn’t your brain get overwhelmed when you’re at a noisy party? How is it that so many competing signals resolve into one coherent world rather than a cacophony of competing interactions and interpretations?
Creativity is often seen as an unstructured, free-flowing process. But what if we could track it like a data scientist—measuring time, effort, and connections between ideas?
“A designer shapes the situation, the situation talks back, and the designer reflects on the back-talk.”
What do you make time for?
Book reading feels like an act of cognitive rebellion in an American society driven by social media and pointess fear-based news. By reading books you are actively engaging the magical act of imagining, world creating and perspective-taking.
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...
Ever wonder what happens when a software engineer and a jazz trumpeter team up in a Venice Beach music studio?
Was AI Included?
Who truly “creates” when we use AI in our art and work?
There is no wrong way to make music. In fact, there are probably an infinite number of right ways to make music.
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.
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?
