I’m not into self-deploring.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What happens when we die?
Death & what remains
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.
Catastrophising.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 May 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 243 →When I’m feeling lazy and I sleep in too much.
Being too thin-skinned.
Oh, I have a long list. You should ask me what I like about myself—that list is much shorter.
More from Hugh Skinner
View profile →I’d be happier being myself younger.
Accidentally walking on to set naked for a scene where I wasn’t actually supposed to be naked.
I think we’re definitely gone, but I do think people leave traces everywhere from what they did in life, and live on and continue to make an impact through the ripple effect of that.
Snobbishness, superiority, condescension.
In the back of my mind I just assumed I’d be in a boyband at some point.
People singing in the street.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Charles Collingwood, Romola Garai, Guz Khan, Daryl McCormack, Meghan Trainor, Michael Cunningham
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