Ho, ho, holy cow…it’s the most stressful time of the year. The one where you look at people in your group, realize that they are 20 years younger than you and wonder:

• What in the heck do these crazy kids want for the holidays
• How can I get it for about $30, and
• How do I not look like a jerk but manage to help them reach their potential?

Let’s face it, none of us wants a redo of last year’s meeting with the Vice Chancellor of Incomprehensibly Bad Faculty Ideas where he shows you Faculty Handbook page number 892 noting that cattle prods are not cool.

Good news. Fighty Squirrel is here to Save. The. Day. Your people want some retro, old school, throwback stuff called paper. In the form of the most bad arsed organizer you have ever seen. It’s called The Passion Planner, and before you get all wonk-eyed and worried, this planner is about life goals and making things happen. For realz.

“Please don’t make me unzip my skin to show you the suit. It seems painful.” – me

Fighty Squirrel is a firm believer in the idea that the best way suck your soul from your body is to start your day with a ‘to do’ list and open your email.  And the Passion Planner folks agree. Their awesome bound organizers come in compact and legal paper sizes, and inside you’ll find a  genius blend of open spaces, timelines, calendaring and much more all focused on getting things done. And not the little things. The projects. The papers. The grants. The life goals. How many planners make you actually sit down and think about what you want out of your year before you can write in a single appointment?

If all this squirrel love for our genius friends isn’t enough for you, try it yourself before you invest in a Passion Planner for your labbies. Their site asks you to share their work on social media and then allows you to download two weeks of planning pages for freebies. Yes. Zero dollars. That’s how confident they are this is an investment you are going to want to make. They also come in super cute cornflower blue if anyone is looking to pick up a gift for a chatty squirrel. Anyone?

About the Author

Screen Name

Fighty Squirrel, PhD, Awe.Some.

About Me

The Fighty Squirrel is very thin pseud for a molecular and cellular neurobiology type who runs a lab studying neurodegeneration. She is mother to a 14yo half child/half honey badger and 16yo half child/half border collie and a Reviewing Editor at Journal of Neuroscience. She also sort of a badass at air hockey. She speaks for herself unless her employer likes it, in which case it's patented.