Blogging about blogging

Thanks to Andrew Kable I started discovering the English speaking business blogosphere - and I'm very happy to do that!

For example, Penelope Trunk's blog has a very interesting series of articles on blogging.

I have my Belarusian-Russian blog since 2003. First it was just a diary, then a means to communicate with friends who also have a blog at Livejournal and to find new friends among Belarusian speakers. Livejournal is very popular in post-Soviet countries exactly because it offers broad opportunities to communicate and not just to blog. Practically, it developed into a social network above a blogging service.

Finally, it more and more became a blog on current political issues concerning Belarus, leaving less and less place for private stuff. Currently I have more than 440 Livejournal users subscribed to my blog, and landed among Top 30 Belarusian Livejournal bloggers a couple of month ago.

There is still much personal stuff there, and it'd probably make sense to transer this part to a new blog. I see the problem that a huge part of my Russian real-life friends who subscribe to my blog are not much interested in politics, especially in Belarusian politics, and mostly do not even speak any Belarusian :) . On the other hand, some people interested in politics may find it less interesting to read about travel, jokes and other life impressions.

But an argument against that is that serious essays and columns are also posted to http://www.pozirk.org and/or http://bielarus.3dway.org, so that interested people might subscribe to it there and http://czalex.livejournal.com may be left over as a portrait of my interests in common.

A completely different thing is with the blog you are currently reading. The blog was originally created to practice English and German, then there was a a period of it's being inactive, and now it is being revived as a blog in English (except for the tag names :) ) on professional issues. It's still far from some specialization and a concrete niche - but I hope to develop it as I grow professionally.

At least some directions covered here might be named:

- Business, economics of Belarus and Russia

- Personal career experience

- Notes on audit, consulting with an accent on banking industry

- Rare inputs on social issues in Belarus, like my Belarusian articles translated by TOL Blogs Belarus.

Even this list of 4 is too broad if I'm aiming to attract people with what I write and not just real-life friends. But I let time show what's gonna be the blog's final specialization.


-> Gotta find some interesting blogs about strategy consulting, audit and finance to add to my Google Reader
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The US Budget graphically

http://www.thebudgetgraph.com/poster/

Might sound shocking for a post-Soviet: 67% of American state expenses go for the Military and for National Security.

"Evil American Militarist Imperialism"?

No, just what a state is actually there for.
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Sports

It's very important to do sports for a successful career.

- A success comes from the inner motivation to succeed. And the taste of success comes from past successes and from small victories from the every-day life. A won football match, a distance run or rode by bike – that all gives the feeling of having achieved something, supported by the relevant physical impressions

- Every football or basketball match you play is training on team working skills, first of all on psychological level

- Every bike ride is you ruling the space, getting the flying feeling of from your fast move and therefore a physical impression of changing the reality on your own wish

- I'm not a specialist in medicine and may therefore sound naïve, but I know that sport makes the organism produce hormones and initiates processes inside you that improve your productivity

- Sports just give you a good feeling and a fit look. And if you feel well and look well and know you look well, you’ll do better.

When I was small I was a child who preferred to sit at home, watch an interesting movie or read an interesting book or play Lego instead of going out and play some football outside – and therefore I tend to like single sports like swimming or bicycle. That's something I'd like to be changed - but nowadays my low football skills may be a problem :(

The main thing s to get the time for sports, and this may be a problem when you leave work at 9 PM.

Yeah, now I’m motivated to go to the swimming pool tonight! :)
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