About Diane
The accidental systems designer
ABC News anchor and correspondent · Bestselling author of The Sleep Fix · Keynote speaker on ADHD, productivity, and sleep · Creator of @busybrainmanual
From the outside, my life looks very put together. Emmy award-winning news anchor. Bestselling author. Happily married mother of two.
But behind the scenes I was constantly losing things, forgetting things, late on bills despite having the money, and living in a level of disorganization I couldn't seem to get on top of.
Then at 40 I was diagnosed with ADHD, and suddenly so much of my life made sense.
So I started looking at my struggles the way I look at stories as a journalist: asking what's really happening and why.
I realized most systems require you to remember, follow through, and stay on top of things in order to work.
Real life doesn't look like that, especially with ADHD. Instead, we get interrupted, forget what we were doing, start working on something else, and lose track of time (or our belongings).
So I started building different systems, like:
- A dirty dish basket so dishes never pile up in the sink
- A labeled pocket organizer for packing so nothing gets forgotten
- Bookends in the fridge so everything's visible and gets eaten
- A clean clothes hamper so no more “floordrobe”
None of them are conventional. All of them work.
But here’s what really surprised me: since I stopped using all my bandwidth on everyday tasks, I have so much more for things that actually matter — like important decisions and being patient with my kids.
Now I’m sharing these systems and the principles behind them so you can customize them to your own busy brain.
And in my keynote, I even teach how to apply it at work.
If you have ADHD, or just a fast brain that needs systems that move with it, this is your manual.
