Self-Care Snacks: The Burnout Antidote Entrepreneurs Will Actually Use
Let’s be real: entrepreneurs are freakishly good at pushing. Late nights. Back-to-back meetings. Always “one more thing” before bed. Most people try to out-hustle the crash; the smart ones build systems that make the crash unnecessary.
Today’s guest on Attention Is The Currency, Amanda Bearce, founder of Simply Wellness with Amanda and a fitness & wellness coach, calls those systems self-care snacks: tiny, sustainable shifts you can actually do while building your business. No week-long retreats. No 5 a.m. monk routines. Snacks. Small, repeatable, compounding.
“You don’t need a life overhaul to avoid burnout. You need consistent five- and ten-minute wins that protect your energy while you build.” Amanda Bearce
Amanda left a corporate role that drained her: physically tense, anxious in the shower (the only place she couldn’t distract herself), and completely disconnected from what she liked or needed. Exercise was her first non-negotiable. The results bled into everything else: focus, patience, leadership, and the confidence to add more tiny practices that stick.
This article distills Amanda’s approach for founders who want stamina without sacrificing growth.
What Are “Self-Care Snacks”?
Definition: small, intentional practices (5–15 minutes) inserted into your day that regulate your nervous system, restore attention, and prevent energy leaks. They’re friction-light, screen-minimal, and designed to survive real calendars.
Why they work:
- Low activation energy: easy to start, easy to repeat.
- Compounding effect: consistency beats intensity.
- Context-aware: done inside your real schedule, not outside it.
- Performance-linked: better executive function, creativity, and emotional regulation, the stuff your business actually runs on.
The Founder Reality Check (Here’s the deal…)
- If your output is tied directly to your state, then treating your state as optional is bad business.
- “I’ll rest when it slows down” is how companies stall.
- Most people chase huge changes because it feels decisive. Winners design tiny behaviors because they scale.
Amanda’s First Domino (Steal This)
Start with the easiest high-leverage habit you’re willing to defend. For Amanda, it was exercise, not for aesthetics, but because it was the one ask she could approve for herself without guilt. That single anchor made adding the next habit simple.
Founder translation: choose one anchor that earns its keep fast (sleep window, 20-minute walk, 10-minute mobility, phone-free meals). Then add another once the first is automatic.
The Self-Care Snack Bar: Menus You Can Use Today
5-Minute Snacks (in-between meetings)
- Screen fast: put the phone in a drawer and stare at nothing. Let your eyes and prefrontal cortex cool.
- Micro-walk: go outside. Notice three colors in the sky, three sounds, three sensations.
- Breathing gear shift: inhale 4, exhale 6, repeat 8–10 cycles.
- Creative spark: build one small Lego bag, doodle, or sketch a mind map.
- Mindful shower add-on: stay 60 seconds longer; notice water, scent, temperature. Phones out of sight.
15-Minute Snacks (daily baseline)
- Sun + steps: light exposure and a walk. No podcasts. Just sensory input.
- Gratitude quicklist: three specifics, not generalities.
- Desk mobility: hips, T-spine, neck to undo the chair.
- Single chapter read: fiction or non-biz nonfiction to reset mental gears.
60-Minute Refuel (1–2 times per week)
- Deep creative play: Lego build, puzzles, painting, hands busy, mind free.
- Unstructured solitude: no people, no tasks, no inputs.
- Long walk call: if you must take a meeting, make it a walking one.
Pro tip: snacks must be screen-light. If it lives on your phone, your inbox will hijack it.
Boundary Scripts for When Everything Feels “Urgent”
Most people say yes by default and then resent the work. If you’re serious about stamina, upgrade your language:
- Deferral: “I can’t give this the attention it deserves today. I can review Thursday after 2.”
- Trade-off: “Yes, if we pause X until next week. Which one matters more?”
- Delegate: “This belongs with <name>. Loop me back only if you hit a blocker.”
- No (gentle): “Thanks for thinking of me. It’s a no for now so I can protect current commitments.”
- Calendar guard: “Heads up: after today’s event I’ll be offline for 45 minutes to reset. I’ll surface at 4 p.m.”
You are training people how to treat your time. Train well.
Quick Triage: If You’re Already Overheated
- Stop adding: freeze new commitments for 7 days.
- Audit the list: delete, delegate, defer, or downgrade. Be ruthless.
- Pick one snack you’ll hit twice daily for the next week.
- Sleep floor: set a minimum sleep window (for example, 11:00 p.m.–6:30 a.m.). Guard it like payroll.
- Movement minimum: 10–20 minutes. Done is the metric.
- Phone rules: silent and out of reach during showers, meals, and your first 30 minutes of morning.
The Myth That Keeps Founders Stuck
Myth: “If I stop, my business stops.”
Truth: when you never stop, your decision quality tanks, your team gets your worst self, and your pipeline reflects that. Amanda’s clients routinely see better months after real rest because they return with focus, presence, and ideas.
A Simple Weekly Rhythm (Founder-Friendly)
- Daily: two 5-minute snacks and one 15-minute snack
- Twice weekly: one 60-minute refuel block
- Weekly review (20 min): what snack worked, what didn’t, and the single upgrade for next week
Write it on your calendar like revenue-critical work, because it is.
Choose Your Starter Kit (Pick One From Each)
State you need most today: Calm, Focus, or Energy
- Calm
- 4–6 breathing for 5 minutes
- Mindful shower add-on
- Outside sensory walk
- Focus
- Screen fast for 5–10 minutes
- Desk mobility plus water
- One-chapter read (non-biz)
- Energy
- Music and one-song dance break
- Stairs and sunlight loop
- 10-minute kettlebell or bodyweight circuit
Lock these as repeating calendar events. Non-negotiable.
For the Introverts Running “People Businesses”
Amanda calls it a skittle-sized social battery. If that’s you, plan recovery before the drain:
- Mark heavy social days and pre-block 30–60 minutes of solitude after.
- Tell your family: “I’ll come home and take 30 minutes solo, then I’m all yours.”
- Protect weekends by front-loading rest Friday afternoon.
Most People vs. You
- Most people ignore the early alarm bells and call it grit.
- You treat energy like capital, deployed intentionally and replenished deliberately.
If you’re serious about building something that lasts, stop glamorizing collapse. Start normalizing snacks.
Key Takeaway
Burnout doesn’t happen because you didn’t book a seven-day retreat. It happens because you skipped seven five-minute resets a day for months. Self-care snacks aren’t cute; they’re operational hygiene for high performers.
“Your productivity isn’t your worth. Slow down, ask what you need, and give yourself five minutes. Then watch the rest of your day improve.”
Amanda Bearce
If this resonates, check out Amanda’s short and actionable weekly newsletter at Simply Wellness Coach and reply; she reads every response. And if attention is the currency, stop wasting it on endless scrolling. Invest it in the practices that keep you powerful and present.