Bad timekeeping.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I’m a bit of a hoarder.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 September 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 243 →Laziness, wasting time. I’d like to be able to make films faster.
Vick Hope
British television and radio presenter
I can’t say no. I am a people-pleaser, and it means that I burn myself out because I take on too much.
I never let it go.
More from Penny Lancaster
View profile →Clearing up someone’s sick – it was on police duty.
In a different sense, I’ve helped to try to resuscitate a dead man.
Honest, empathetic, daring.
Lack of empathy.
Trusting someone and being let down.
The children. As a mother you are constantly worrying whether you’ve done the right thing.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Laurie Metcalf, Takashi Murakami, Jean Smart, George H. W. Bush, Zack Polanski, Rose Ayling-Ellis
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- All identity & self questions
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