Find Your BottleneckMark ChaptersFind Your Bottleneck
The ADHD executive-function toolkit
Seven places executive function can pinch. You have one or two doing most of the damage. Find yours in five minutes, then fix that one.
The seven bottlenecks
The Starting Line Task initiation
“I know exactly what to do — I just can’t begin.”
The Vanishing Hour Time
“Where did the time go? I’m late again.”
The Disappearing Thought Working memory
“It’s gone. If I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.”
The Frozen Queue Prioritising
“It’s all urgent, so I do none of it.”
The Last 10% Follow-through
“I start everything and finish nothing.”
The Flooded Circuit Emotion / RSD
“A small thing just wrecked my whole day.”
The Wandering Spotlight Attention
“I can’t steer my focus — it drifts, or it clamps for hours.”
If all seven are jammed at once, that isn’t a bottleneck — that’s burnout, and this isn’t the manual for it. Rest first. This one will still be here.
Then the toolkit follows your bottleneck into real life — money, work, relationships, the home-admin pile, energy, and a plan for not quietly quitting three weeks in. Thirteen tools in all, and you only ever run the ones that are yours.
The book
Here’s what nobody tells you when you go looking for help with ADHD: “ADHD” is too big to fix. It’s a hundred things at once — starting, remembering, timing, finishing, feeling, focusing — and when you try to fix all of it, you fix none of it.
Your executive function has seven places it can pinch. You don’t have all seven jammed equally — you’ve got one, maybe two, doing most of the damage. Those are your bottlenecks. A startling amount of what feels like “my whole life is held together with tape” traces back to them.
So this isn’t a book you read front to back. Take the five-minute Bottleneck Finder, go straight to your neck, and start there. It’s built to be used, not admired — short, written in, and every chapter ends in something you do, never a paragraph gently suggesting you be more present.
Excerpt
Picture a bottle pouring out. The whole flow is decided by one spot — the neck. Doesn’t matter how big the bottle is or how hard you tilt it; that narrow part sets the pace for everything that comes out. You could widen ten other parts of the glass and nothing would change. Widen the neck, and the whole thing finally pours.
Readers
5.0 out of 58 ratings on Amazon
paid for itself
I run a one-person business (me) and one idea here paid for the book. Define done before you start. My purchasing process kept stalling because I never wrote down what finished was, so orders sat half-handled. That fix took an afternoon to set up. The quiz points you at one chapter instead of given you ten problems. The tools go into your environment rather than your willpower, which is why they hold. Short, practical, no filler.
10/10
I love it from the beginning till the end because it helps me find that one thing that is causing the most traffic in my day, whether that's starting a boring task, losing track of hours, or freezing when faced with too many choices. This book was wrote for those who are trying to find the reason of those ADHD reactions that blocks you...
10/10, i love it
Targeted Toolkit
What I appreciated was the focus on diagnosing the core issue before introducing additional planners or habits. It considers planning, follow-through, working memory, and emotional regulation as individual pressure points. Identifying the first failure point makes subsequent steps more straightforward. If you're fed up with generic productivity advice that doesn’t stick, this resource offers a practical, targeted approach. It’s clear, actionable, and designed for adults seeking tools aligned with their natural mental processes.
Found my bottleneck
I really liked how practical this book was. I liked that it focuses on identifying your personal bottleneck instead of just giving generic productivity advice. The executive function toolkit approach made the information feel useful and easy to apply, especially for adults who struggle with organization, focus, planning, and getting things done. It gave me a different way to think about what might actually be holding me back.
good information
This will be the perfect book for my granddaughter because she has ADHD and having tools to help her with managing her symptoms. The worksheet I find to be valuable as well. Find Your Bottleneck she loves reading and find new resources to help her get better.
Practical Strategies
Find Your Bottleneck: The ADHD Executive Function Toolkit for Adults is an invaluable resource for individuals navigating the challenges of ADHD. The authors provide practical strategies and tools specifically designed to address executive function deficits, which can hinder productivity and overall well-being. The book is structured in a user-friendly manner, making it easy to identify personal bottlenecks and implement effective solutions. The blend of relatable anecdotes and research-backed insights helps demystify the ADHD experience, empowering readers to take control of their lives.
What sets this toolkit apart is its emphasis on actionable steps and self-awareness. Each chapter offers exercises and techniques that encourage readers to reflect on their unique challenges and strengths. The authors also foster a supportive tone, making it clear that struggles with executive function are common and manageable.
Bought it for my partner, finally something that clicked
Got this for my partner who's tried a bunch of productivity books with no luck. This one landed differently—the bottleneck idea made sense right away instead of another overwhelming list of tips. The worksheets got used immediately, not just skimmed. Practical, straightforward, and clearly written by someone who gets it.
Sharp!
Funny enough, The book started resonating with me even before I bought it: that sentence in the description "Somewhere in your home there's a planner with three good days filled in and the rest blank"... I laughed when I read it because that's exactly me. I think the real strength of this book is that the author identifies sharply what the problem is, and bases the method on that. It helped me, so I recommend it.
Paperback, Kindle and audio
Get it on Amazon (Find Your Bottleneck)The free kit
Free, costs an email
The Printable Toolkit
The book you write in once. The kit you run off forever — the Bottleneck Map, all thirteen worksheets, and a run-the-tree card for every skill, as fresh reusable PDFs. Print a new copy whenever you need one, or one for a friend who needs it.
- The Bottleneck Map
- 13 worksheets
- 13 run-the-tree cards
Printed and filled in. Not a mockup.
Who wrote this
Mark Chapters
Books for neurodivergent adults
Mark Chapters writes practical books for neurodivergent adults, made for the reader rather than written at or about them. He isn’t a doctor or a researcher. He’s the person in the middle, who reads the studies and the accounts people share in public, and says so where they disagree.
His books include The Autistic Burnout Recovery System, The ADHD Burnout Recovery System, Same Brain, New Map, Find Your Bottleneck, The Attachment Switch and The Neuro-Mechanic’s Guide to Home Maintenance.
Where to go next
The ADHD Burnout Recovery System
4.45 ratings
If all seven are jammed at once, that isn't a bottleneck. It's burnout, and this is the manual for it.
AuDHD, Honestly
New, November 2026
If autism is part of the picture too. Its chapter 5 takes starting and stopping from both sides.
Same Brain, New Map
5.01 rating
If the diagnosis is new. It gives you an order to do things in, before any system.
Which edition?
The ADHD Burnout Recovery System. Each link opens Amazon in your country.
Which edition?
AuDHD, Honestly. Each link opens Amazon in your country.