Everton's preseason is now underway, with McNeil confident he's benefited from cutting short his summer break.
"It's great to be back in with the lads again and catching up with everyone after a good summer," McNeil told evertonfc.com. "Everyone seems to have enjoyed it and now it's time to get to work.
"I got away for a bit with my partner, Meg, which was nice after what she has been through and then when I got back I had a bit of time so I spoke to my dad about what I wanted to do.
"I knew I wanted to improve some technical aspects of my game so I've been coming in (to Finch Farm) with him as much as I can. My dad has been a massive help for me throughout my whole career and he's still helping me now.
"I'm always trying to better myself and he's always supporting that. I want to find ways to improve my game, help the team more and hopefully I'll feel the benefit for that going into the new season."
He added, "I think it's laid the foundations ahead of the start of pre-season," added McNeil. "Obviously, having done quite a few pre-seasons now, you know how testing they are.
"Training on your own over the summer is completely different to training with the lads but I'm really looking forward to it and I want to hit the ground running.
"I find (the testing) boring, to be honest! But it gives the lads to catch up a bit between and it's something that's got to be done. It's good to keep track of those things but I'm really looking forward to the proper training getting started."