Want to Enhance Your Executive Functioning? 5 Books Guaranteed to Help (2026)
- Sean McCormick
- May 9, 2023
- 8 min read
Updated: 20 hours ago
Want to share a product or service with over 6,000 parents and educators interested in executive functioning?
Are you looking for books that will help improve your time management, goal setting skills, and ultimately make your life more organized and fulfilling?
In this post, I share five transformative books that have personally helped me enhance my executive functioning skills.👇
Table of Contents
Executive function skills shape how we plan, follow through, manage time, make decisions, and handle the daily chaos of life.
They matter in school, work, relationships, and parenting, which is why improving them is a lifelong game, not a one-time fix.
In this post, I’m sharing five books that have helped me strengthen my own executive function skills, especially around time management, planning, and goal-setting.
These books have genuinely influenced how I approach both work and life.
I also want to acknowledge that this list does not reflect as much diversity in authorship as it should.
These recommendations come from my personal reading experience, but I know there is real value in learning from a wider range of voices and perspectives.
If you have a book by a diverse author that has shaped how you think about executive function, productivity, or personal growth, share it in the comments.
And if one of these books stands out to you, you can click the images to check it out.
But first, let's get into what executive function skills are and why books are a great way to improve them.👇
What Are Executive Function Skills?
Executive function skills are the brain-based skills that help us manage ourselves and get things done.
If you prefer a video on this topic, watch this👇
They allow us to:
plan
stay organized
control impulses
manage time
remember important information
shift between tasks
and follow through even when we do not feel like it
For students, one example of an executive function skill in a student's world is task initiation.
A student might know they have a science project due Friday, but if they struggle to get started, they may put it off until the last minute, panic, and turn in rushed work.
Stronger task initiation helps them begin earlier, even when the assignment feels boring or overwhelming.
For adults, one example is time management.
An adult with strong time management can estimate how long something will take, plan ahead, and leave enough room for real life to happen.
An adult who struggles with this might overbook their day, run late, forget deadlines, and constantly feel like they are playing catch-up.
These skills matter because they affect success at every age, not just in school.
They help kids become more independent, and they help adults handle work, family, money, and daily responsibilities with a lot less chaos.
How Will Books Help Me Improve My Executive Function Skills?
Books can help improve your executive function skills by giving you better strategies and better ways to think about the challenges you face.
A good book can help you understand why you procrastinate, why you lose track of time, why your systems keep falling apart, or why you know what to do but still do not do it.
That kind of insight matters, because it is hard to fix a problem you cannot name.
Books also give you models for change.
They can introduce routines, tools, mental frameworks, and habits that make executive functioning easier in real life.
They can also help you feel less alone.
A lot of people with executive function challenges walk around thinking they are lazy, bad at life, or just somehow broken.
Then they read a book that perfectly describes their experience and realize, oh wow, my brain has been doing this nonsense for years and there is actually a reason for it.
That kind of validation can be powerful.
Of course, reading a book will not magically transform your habits by osmosis.
But the right book can absolutely help you:
build more awareness
try new strategies
and make small changes that improve how you plan, manage time, and follow through
5 Books Guaranteed to Help Enhance Your Executive Functioning
Book #1: "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" by David Allen
"Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" by David Allen is a time-management method designed to provide control over all tasks and commitments in your life.
This process involves:
capturing everything that needs attention
clarifying if it's actionable
organizing actionable items by category and priority
reflecting on the system
and finally, engaging with the tasks confidently
By reducing cognitive load, increasing focus, improving impulse control, and enhancing cognitive flexibility, the GTD method offers a practical approach to manage tasks and commitments, which can significantly improve executive functioning skills over time.
"Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them." - David Allen, Getting Things Done
Book #2:"Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones" by James Clear
"Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones" by James Clear is a comprehensive guide on habit formation and how small, incremental changes can lead to significant results.
The book focuses on creating systems and structures that facilitate the development of good habits and the elimination of bad ones.
By providing practical strategies for habit formation, such as the four-step habit loop (cue, craving, response, reward) and the concept of identity-based habits, the book helps improve executive functioning skills.
These strategies enhance goal-setting, self-regulation, planning, and decision-making abilities, which are vital components of executive function.
In essence, "Atomic Habits" empowers readers to take control of their lives and intentionally shape the habits that support their personal and professional goals.
"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." - James Clear, Atomic Habits
Book #3:"Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals" by Oliver Burkeman
"Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals" by Oliver Burkeman is a thought-provoking exploration of our relationship with time.
The title references the average human lifespan in weeks, emphasizing the finite nature of our existence.
Rather than focusing on traditional productivity hacks, Burkeman encourages embracing limitations, focusing on meaningful tasks, and accepting the impossibility of doing everything.
This approach helps in improving executive functions in several ways.
It enhances decision-making and prioritization skills by encouraging focus on truly significant tasks.
It fosters self-regulation through the acceptance of life's finiteness, promoting conscious choices about commitments.
It also assists in goal-directed behavior by helping readers to align their actions with their deeper values and aspirations.
Thus, "Four Thousand Weeks" offers a refreshing perspective to improve executive functioning skills by redefining productivity and time management.
"Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom." - Søren Kierkegaard, as quoted in Oliver Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks
Book #4:"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey is a seminal book that offers a framework for personal effectiveness, which aligns well with the development of executive function skills.
Each of the seven habits:
be proactive
begin with the end in mind
put first things first
think win-win
seek first to understand then to be understood
synergize
and sharpen the saw,
help in strengthening components of executive function, such as planning, prioritizing, self-regulation, task initiation, and goal-directed persistence.
The book not only provides strategies for productivity but also emphasizes the importance of character ethics and personal values, leading to holistic growth.
"I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions." - Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Book #5: "The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich" by Timothy Ferriss
"The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich" by Timothy Ferriss is a guide to productivity and lifestyle design.
By advocating for the elimination of non-essential tasks, automating and delegating as much as possible, and focusing on highly efficient bursts of work, Ferriss's approach can significantly bolster executive functioning skills.
These skills include prioritizing (determining what tasks are most important), time management (creating a focused work schedule), and self-regulation (setting boundaries between work and personal time).
The principles in the book encourage readers to create systems that optimize their productivity and effectiveness, thereby improving their overall executive function.
"Being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action." - Tim Ferris, The Four Hour Workweek
FAQs
Can reading books really improve executive function skills?
Books can help you improve executive function skills by giving you practical strategies, helpful frameworks, and better awareness of how your brain works.
They will not do the work for you, but they can absolutely help you make smarter changes in how you plan, prioritize, and follow through.
What if I struggle to finish books because of my executive function challenges?
You are not broken, and you do not need to read every book cover to cover for it to help you.
Even reading one chapter, listening to the audiobook, or taking one useful idea and applying it is still progress.
Which of these books should I start with first?
If you want practical systems, start with Getting Things Done or Atomic Habits.
If you need a mindset shift around time, priorities, and the fact that you are in fact a human and not a machine, start with Four Thousand Weeks.
The Bottom Line
Improving your executive function skills usually does not happen because you suddenly become more disciplined on a random Tuesday.
It happens when you start thinking differently, using better systems, and practicing small changes over time.
These five books have helped me do exactly that:
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
Hope this helps 🤙🏻
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P.S. If you want to work on executive function skills with your students, consider joining hundreds of other educators and parents who have completed my Semester Success Blueprint Course. In less than 2 hours, this comprehensive course will teach you and your student the system I developed to help hundreds of students learn how to manage school effectively and raise their self-awareness and engagement with school.
About Me
Hey! I'm Sean 👋
I'm a former public school special education teacher who realized that executive function skills are more important than knowing when George Washington crossed the Potomac.
Since then, I've made it my mission to teach anyone who will listen about how to develop these key life skills.
In 2020, I founded Executive Function Specialists to ensure all students with ADHD and Autism have access to high-quality online executive function coaching services. We offer online EF coaching and courses to help students and families.
Realizing I could only reach so many people through coaching, in 2021 I started the Executive Function Coaching Academy which trains schools, educators, and individuals to learn the key strategies to improve executive function skills for students.
In 2023, I co-founded of UpSkill Specialists, to provide neurodivergent adults with high-quality executive function coaching services.
When not pursuing my passions through work, I love spending time with my family, getting exercise, and growing my brain through reading. You can connect with me on LinkedIn.
Want me to speak on executive function skills at your event? Learn more about my speaking topics here.
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