How to ADHD

An Insider's Guide to Working with Your Brain (Not Against It)

By: Jessica McCabe

Narrated by: Jessica McCabe

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this honest, friendly, and shame-free guide, the creator of the award-winning YouTube channel How to ADHD shares the hard-won insights and practical strategies that have helped her survive, even thrive, in a world not built for her brain.

“The world of ADHD has been waiting for this book with bated breath for many years. If there’s a fairy godmother of our lot, it’s Jessica McCabe.”—Edward Hallowell, MD, coauthor of Driven to Distraction and ADHD 2.0

Forget “try harder.” When your brain works differently, you need to try different.

Diagnosed with ADHD at age twelve, Jessica struggled with a brain that she didn’t understand. She lost things constantly, couldn’t finish projects, and felt like she was putting more effort in than everyone around her while falling further and further behind. At thirty-two years old—broke, divorced, and living with her mom—Jessica decided to look more deeply into her ADHD challenges. She reached out to experts, devoured articles, and shared her discoveries on YouTube.

In How to ADHD, Jessica reveals the tools that have changed her life while offering an unflinching look at the realities of living with ADHD. The key to navigating a world not built for the neurodivergent brain, she discovered, isn’t to fix or fight against its natural tendencies but to understand and work with them. She explains how ADHD affects everyday life, covering executive function impairments, rejection sensitivity, difficulties with attention regulation, and more. You’ll also find ADHD-specific strategies for adapting your environment, routines, and systems, including:

• Boost the signal and decrease the noise. Facilitate focus by putting your goals where you can see them and fighting distractions with distractions.
• Have less stuff to manage. Learn why you have trouble planning and prioritizing, and why doing more starts with doing less.
• Build your “time wisdom.” Work backward when you plan, and track how long it actually takes you to do something.
• Learn about your emotions. Understand how naming your emotions and letting yourself experience them can make them easier to regulate.

With quotes from Jessica’s online community, chapter summaries, and reading shortcuts designed for the neurodivergent reader, How to ADHD will help you recognize your strengths and challenges, tackle “bad brain days,” and be kinder to yourself in the process.

©2024 Jessica McCabe (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“The world of ADHD has been waiting for this book with bated breath for many years. If there’s a fairy godmother of our lot, it’s Jessica McCabe. She has a foolproof way of instilling hope, an uncanny intuition, and a preternatural understanding of the condition so misleadingly called ADHD. She turns pain into the wisdom and hard-earned joy you’ll find in this bountiful gift to us all.” —Edward Hallowell, MD, coauthor of Driven to Distraction and ADHD 2.0

“Jessica McCabe writes with honesty, intelligence and warmth about living and growing with ADHD. McCabe has created something that is more than a guide. This book is like the friend/coach/therapist you’ve always wanted to help you understand how to work with your unique brain, improve daily functioning skills, and love yourself in the process. I learned a lot from reading this book and will definitely be recommending it to colleagues and clients!” —Sharon Saline, PsyD, author of What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew and The ADHD Solution Deck

“How to ADHD is a must-read book. From the ADHD-friendly layout to practical tips that help readers feel comfortable in their own skin, Jessica McCabe delivers what they need to take their next leap in life. She is vulnerable, encouraging, and inspirational. But, most of all, she gets what it's like to live with a neurodivergent brain.” —Caroline Maguire, bestselling author of Why Will No One Play with Me?

Life changing

my husband has adhd and he has been watching Jessica's youtube channel for years and he introduced me to her so I could understand him better. Her videos and this book are SO informative and just creative and adhd friendly that I absolutely love anything she posts. Her info has helped our relationship work better and accomodate my husband and for me to be helpful and understanding to his struggles. I always recommend her and to anyone that thinks they might have adhd. I have acquired her famous phrase "do differently not better", I repeat that to my husband anytime he feels like a failure and remind him he doesnt need to be better, he is already amazing, he just needs to maybe approach what he is doing in a different way. Thank you Jessica for everything you do, you are amazing!

You are not alone

Every chapter, section, and sentence affirms what no one ever tells you when you’re growing up with undiagnosed ADHD: you are not alone.

The Therapy I Needed

Jessica is so very talented in what she does and her dedication to her fellow brains is phenomenal. I have countless self-help books...truly countless because I have bought and donated so many over the years. I rarely buy paper copies anymore but this one, I am definitely adding to my home bookshelf as well.

more great things from How to ADHD

the information and how it was presented. This is a great read for anyone who has an ADHD person in there life no matter how close they are. from yourself to a friend, a student or a coworker. The information is priceless.

She gets me!

Jessica speaks our language in a way that others, not just us with neurodiversity, can understand.

Helpful in So Many Ways

I really love how this book made me think and feel. I've come to this book both as a Heart and a Brain. I'm still on my neurodivergence discovery journey, and I don't know what flavors of neurospicy I am yet, but I related so thoroughly to many, many of the thoughts and stories shared in this book. I also really appreciated the chapter for Hearts. My partner and I heavily suspect he has ADHD, and a lot of the ideas of that chapter really chimed with our experiences in our relationship. I feel like I have lots of new tools to try, but maybe more importantly, a fresh perspective on how to be kinder and more patient with myself as I figure things out. Thank you.

Insightful

Author does a great job narrating her experience and challenges while addressing question along the way

Amazing

Love it! Very useful tips and tools to stop fighting against our natural tendencies (would probably read again)

A real view from a real ADHDer.

This was a great book for someone just starting ADHD discovery - like me. It was a good start to finding what of my ‘quirks’ are ADHD.

The way in which the information was presented

A must listen. Absolutely beneficial and crucial information. It left me feeling, supported, validated, and motivated.