A ballet dancer.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
This is a standing question in The Guardian's decades-long The Q&A and also recurs independently in career and life interviews.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
I wanted to perform in some way, but I didn’t think it was viable. Teachers told me I should be a barrister, because I was always arguing with them.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 April 2021 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 195 →I wanted to be a doctor, like my father.
Daphne Guinness
British socialite
I wanted to be in the army or a spy in the intelligence service.
Vick Hope
British television and radio presenter
J-Lo, a foreign correspondent and, at uni, I assumed that someone would tap me on the shoulder and ask me to be in MI6, but it never happened.
More from Riz Ahmed
View profile →The thought that I could be doing more: being more productive, doing more of the things that matter, and less of the things that don’t.
Preparing for Sound Of Metal. Feeling challenged and overwhelmed and lost in something is very fulfilling.
Some of my teachers. I was a bit of a handful as a kid. They were just trying to do their job and I made it very difficult.
Less admin, emails, phone calls; more space to think, read and sleep.
If I am remembered at all that would be nice. I won’t be picky.
I would care less about what people think.
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