Steady, reaching, bewildered.
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this exact standing prompt.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Honest, empathetic, daring.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 September 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 111 →Clumsy, kind and excitable.
Confident, stressed, greedy.
Insular, creative and mechanically minded.
More from Penny Lancaster
View profile →I’m a bit of a hoarder.
Clearing up someone’s sick – it was on police duty.
Lack of empathy.
The children. As a mother you are constantly worrying whether you’ve done the right thing.
In a different sense, I’ve helped to try to resuscitate a dead man.
An English teacher said, “You’ll never make anything of yourself.”
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Tuppence Middleton, Graydon Carter, Milton Jones, Peter Sarsgaard, Stephen K Amos, Hamza Yassin
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