As we approach the end of 2009, I thought it would be apt to reflect on what I had to say on Beyond the Rhetoric in the preceding fifty-two weeks. Just as you can gather from looking at the top trending topics on Twitter for the year, you can reveal a lot about yourself by looking into what you had to say during the same time period.

These archives offer a glimpse into my mindset with each passing month. If you missed anything along the way, here is a good place to start. I’ve hand-selected two blog posts from each calendar month, but you can easily dive into the full archives page for more good reading.

January 2009

Even though a new American President was on his way to the White House with promises of hope and change, many people still had the suffering economy on their minds. My blog posts seemed to reflect this sentiment.

February 2009

Moving into the next month, I started to make a bigger effort to gain some new perspective, both personally and professionally. Inspiration can come from all sorts of different places.

March 2009

While I continued to blog about personal development and business-related matters, I also wrote about more casual topics as well. That’s not to say that they weren’t important, since life is all about balance.

April 2009
A big burden was finally lifted off my shoulders in April, but it was also a month that involved a very lively debate via Twitter regarding the relevance of traditional education. Does the quadratic equation hold any importance in the real world?

May 2009
They say that entrepreneurs only work when they want to work, but it’s perhaps more accurate to say that we are always on the clock. As you can imagine, I have my business on my mind quite often.

June 2009
With the arrival of summer, I did what I could to get outside and to have a little fun. I still had my nose to the grindstone, so to speak, but I balanced that with some play time too.

July 2009
Just as Beyond the Rhetoric received a new look and MichaelKwan.com got a complete overhaul, the site for my freelance writing services had a makeover too. It was also nice to write about my cultural heritage.

August 2009
Looking both to the past and into the future, August was a month where I took an opportunity to discuss my roots while still looking ahead into where I have yet to go. It also welcomed the first ever Sunday Snippet.

September 2009
With many people going back to school, September also represented a great opportunity to revisit my goals and how I approached life in general. Don’t try to be someone else; be the best you that you can be.

October 2009
Continuing with the theme of work, I explored the notion of motivation and how I could best extract the most value out of my vocational endeavors. There is always a way to graduate to the next level.

November 2009
Getting closer to the end of the year, I started to give a lot more thought into how I could be more efficient with what I do. Time is one of the most valuable resources that you can have.

December 2009
Even though Christmas has become one of the most commercialized holidays on the planet, it also serves as a fantastic reminder of what is most important in our lives. Stay grounded and remember that material goods are just “stuff.”