How to ADHD

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

By: Jessica McCabe

Narrated by: Jessica McCabe

Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

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?

Still forming a official review...

But I at least wanted to put something. I really really enjoyed this book. I think, almost certain I have ADHD. It's time to take my heros journey... Thank You Jessica

Informative, Inspiring, and Uncompromisingly Human

After reading several similar genre books since being diagnosed with ADHD last year at age 30, this one is the most informative, relatable, human, and beautiful. McCabe weaves science, self-help strategies, and memoir masterfully. And her performance here delivers a sincerity to the community that is unmatched. Bravo, Jessica! An incredible achievement, and the only self help audiobook that I have ever binged only to feel the need to start it again tomorrow!

Real Life perspective of ADHD as an adult

This is a great collection of tools and stories about what it’s like to navigate the world as a neurodiverse adult. If you love Jessica’s YT channel, you will love this book.

so much info that I can see.

love the stories. Thank you Hearts and Brains! Thanks for the Guidelines. Bought the book also.

Love it

Loved the book as much as Jessica’s YouTube channel. It helps so much to know, that I’m not alone in my struggles.

Validation! She absolutely nailed it with this book!

Many thanks for writing this book! My favorite quote for many years before leaning at 47 that I have ADHD is by Albeit Einstein. He said “Everybody is a Genius. But If You Judge a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree, It Will Live Its Whole Life Believing that It is Stupid” This book not only validated but gives the reader permission to dream again! This book should be every Neuro divergent thinkers first go to! A must read for Everyone! You either are or know someone with ADHD!

Science + validation + practical tools

Renewed my subscription solely for this book, and man, did it not disappoint. I loved everything about it — the structure, the narration, the fact that the author herself has ADHD (and it shows in the best possible way). Also, it’s not just one person's experience, it has tons of scientific evidence and explanation behind every claim. And the tools! Not just “you're broken, this is why”, but more like “you’re okay, these are your unique traits, this is how you can use them for your benefit... and if sometimes you can’t, that’s okay too.” Fantastic book, the best on the topic.

Great work! Amazing!!

What a helpful book, so much thought put into this, so much passion is evident, and as a woman with ADHD who was not diagnosed until the end of college, it’s truly amazing learning I’m not alone in what I go through currently and have gone through my entire life. I could relate to it all, and I want to point out how I felt like Jessica really hit all angles of our experience, which added depth to this topic. This book was so encouraging all the way to the end.

Extraordinary Information. I'm going to get tested

My 8yo struggles with debilitating effects from her mind and a huge part of the challenge is ADHD. As we worked through this book and adapted some of the ideas, my daughter said, mom, why aren't you taking ADHD medicine? Indeed, much of this book applies to me and I've never been diagnosed with ADHD, but my daughter is right. So I've schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist to see if I also fit the DSM. Regardless of the doctor's conclusion, much of this book has been helpful for both of us.
Extraordinary information. The TED talk and YouTube channel are also super helpful. Thank goodness Jessica wrote this book for us.

Exactly what I was looking for.

Jessica McCabe is quite the interesting person. I found her YouTube channel, and subtly developed a bit of a habit ;).
She is wonderful and when I hear, "Hey Brains", it's like a mental snap.
It's wonderful and this audio book is a great listen, especially since I very much enjoy her voice!