I was browsing my feeds lately, and I find that most blogs are actually plainly repeating what other’s have said – and looking at my own posts, I’m partly guilty of that too. It gets boring, reading the same issues over and over again.

I think a true blogger need to put in some time (and effort) thinking about the content he puts up on his blog.

Problogger recently shared great thoughts how to add to blogging conversations and eliminate the echo chamber – its a great read.

Among his list of 11 ways to add to blogging conversations, I particularly like his 8th:

extend ideas – I often get to the end of reading posts that others have written and want to add points. You can do this by leaving a comment – or by continuing the conversation on your own blog (with a link back). So turn the next ‘top 10′ article you read on someone else’s blog into a top 20 article on your own.

While the example given is a “top 10 list” example, I think it can also be applied to regular posts where the blogger posts in the normal paragraph format. The ability to read, think and then present your own thoughts or ideas to add on to the topic is not only useful to create wonderful blog posts, but also very much essential in the business world.

The most wonderful business ideas in the world today are derived from the same process of reading, thinking and adding opinions.

We are all human beings (I hope! ) and the value we create come only in two forms. The first comes in the physical things we do, like the piece of embroidery, or a beautiful painting. The second comes in the thoughts we have – problem solving skills and critical thinking skills.

Many of us have studied a whole quarter of our lives, just to nurture our ability to create value for the world, whether it is in the first or second form. Undertaking jobs doing repetitive tasks in the workplace, governed by predefined processes laid down by the organisation don’t offer us the opportunity to really think as much as we can.

That is why there is so much talk about “empowering employees in the workplace” nowadays – it looks like they just realised that they were mostly using employees as slightly intelligent mechanical instruments.

And as the saying goes, “If you don’t use it, you will lose it.” I believe many Singaporean males can relate with this. After spending two and a half years in the military doing mainly physical work, waking up and running at 6am, its a drag getting the “thinking module” back up when we get released back to the business or academic world.

I’m glad I was an administrative clerk in my stint in the army. Heh.

Reading, thinking, then expressing our thoughts (in our blog, of course 😉 ) lets you keep a momentum so you don’t lose this skill.

Its not just about conversations, its the art and skill of thinking. Cherish it.