Financial expert Martin Lewis says he finds being a trusted voice “very difficult to manage”.
The financial guru and consumer champion says families see him as an “incredibly robust” person given how he comes across on television. But Martin explains he is actually “quite a brittle person”.
“I’m tired,” he told The Media Show on BBC Radio 4.
The 51-year-old, who fronts The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV, admits the pressure of being a leading voice for personal finance in the UK can be “horrendous” and “awful”. He continued: “It’s an incredible compliment, but I find it very difficult.
“I have my dark days mental health-wise. One of the greatest difficulties with me is you think, ‘Have I got it right? Have I got it right? Have I got it right?’”
Lewis said his greatest strength over the past 20 years has been his “professional paranoia”. He explained: “I try to take breaks, I do some breathing… Lots and lots of walking, I do huge amounts of exercise.
“But I do find the stress very difficult to manage, and I would not set myself up as an example of how to manage and cope with huge levels of stress when it’s going through, because I’m really poor at it, and I tend to find most of the time I can deal with it, and then I have periods where I find it very, very difficult to deal with, and I struggle with some functionality to be able to do it.”
Lewis said his greatest strength over the past 20 years has been his “professional paranoia”.
Lewis later described himself as an “absolute perfectionist pedant”.
“My first rule is know it inside out to two levels deeper than the amount you’re going to explain… I like to have a model in my head of how things work,” he added.
- Listen to The Media Show on BBC Radio 4 or hear the full interview on BBC Sounds.
Lewis later described himself as an “absolute perfectionist pedant”.
“My first rule is know it inside out to two levels deeper than the amount you’re going to explain… I like to have a model in my head of how things work,” he added.
Listen to The Media Show on BBC Radio 4 or hear the full interview on BBC Sounds.