Carlo Ancelotti, an Italian professional football manager and former player who managed Real Madrid, before taking over as manager of the Brazilian national football team, has been reported to have said, “You see, success is very close, and it’s normal for stress to increase, but stress is fuel for me.”

It’s an interesting take on the word stress.

According to the NHS, “Stress is something everyone feels at times, especially when dealing with change or life challenges, such as money worries, work issues, or relationship problems.”

It goes on to say, “A little stress can be a good thing, as it helps us to get things done or focus on something that needs our attention.”

The World Health Organisation has this to say about the topic.

“Stress affects both the mind and the body. A little bit of stress is good and can help us perform daily activities. Too much stress can cause physical and mental health problems. Learning how to cope with stress can help us feel less overwhelmed and support our mental and physical well-being.”

We experience both stress and strain in life, and how we manage these emotions is vital for our mental health.

"Stress" and "strain" are two almost interchangeable words. Stress can be a positive factor, while strain is generally a negative one in life.

Stress in the workplace is often considered a precursor to burnout. ‘Burnout’ is recognised by the World Health Organisation as an ‘occupational phenomenon.’

They explain that it is not a medical or mental health condition; it has been classified as a syndrome, meaning a collection of symptoms or signs associated with a specific health-related cause.

Burnout is a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. It can occur when you experience long-term stress and feel under constant pressure.

There are different causes of job burnout. They include:
Lack of control.

Lack of clarity about what's expected of you.

Conflicts with others.

Too much or too little to do.

Lack of support.

Problems with work-life balance.

Experiencing burnout can result in feeling drained and unable to cope. Trouble sleeping, being sad, angry, or irritable, or not feeling you care about anything. It can result in using excessive alcohol or other substances. You can experience disease, high blood pressure, or type 2 diabetes as a consequence of stress. You are more likely to get anxious, depressed, or sick.

In engineering, stress is often built into a design, but strain is generally to be avoided. This applies to buildings, infrastructure, and machines, but it can also apply to the human body.

Playing an international, world-class sport can be a very stressful activity. If you are representing your country at things like the Olympic Games, representing your team at the county or national level, or earning massive wages in competitions like the European Champions League, it places you in a very stressful place. However, the stress can keep you on your toes, help you to focus, and assist high performance.

I guess this was what Carlo Ancelotti was talking about when he said, “Stress is fuel.” Of course, he was focused on the positive outputs of stress. In many respects this applies to most work activities.

We need to harness the benefits of stress and be ready to address the negative aspects before it turns to burnout.

The relationship between stress and disease is now well established, but it was not always recognised. The word ‘stress’ is used in physics to refer to the interaction between a force and the resistance to counter that force, and it was Hans Selye, the founder of the stress theory, who said, “It’s not stress that kills us; it is our reaction to it.”

Ian Garner is a retired Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI) and the Institute of Directors (FIoD).

Ian is a board member of Maggie’s Yorkshire. Maggie’s provides emotional and practical cancer support and information in centres across the UK and online, with their centre in Leeds based at St James’s Hospital.

He is the founder and director of Practical Solutions Management, a strategic consulting practice, and is skilled in developing strategy and providing strategic direction, specialising in business growth and leadership.