Is it good to offer the same navigation choices in the main content area as in the navigation?

Question

In order to offer the user new choices, I often show the same links in the main content are that are also available in the left-hand navigation tree.

It looks more or less like this:

NAVIGATION   MAIN CONTENT
Link 1       Hello,
Link 2       please choose between Link 1 and 2
Link 3       or Link 3.

This way, I keep the user interactions focused on the main content area while the Left-Hand-Navigation Block serves as orientation for the hierarchical positioning of the pages.

We thought about whether it is okay to keep the user's attention on the main content or whether we can let him search for navigation options in the left column himself.

a possible alternative could look like this:

NAVIGATION   MAIN CONTENT
Link 1       Hello,
Link 2       here is some featured content which is not showing any 
Link 3       link or maybe just the featured one: link 3

Which one do you prefer ux-wise? And why?

Answer 1

That's not main content. That's just more navigation.

If you need to describe the navigation in the content area with more verbosity, then I'd rethink your navigation.

All that said, this question is rather context-dependent. A newspaper would certainly have plenty of links in the content area on its home page, for instance.