Keith McNally: Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?

Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?

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.

Recorded Keith McNally said elsewhere, not written here

Craving the kind of success I pretend to despise.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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George H. W. Bush 41st President of the United States, 1989–1993

Nobody has ever accused me of being a superior communicator. If I could have conveyed to the American people the concerns I had, and my heartbeat, a little more clearly, maybe I would not be unemployed and retired. And I might not be this happy, either. I learned a lot from Ronald Reagan about communication. Never got to be in his league in terms of it, but he could say something and the American people might not agree with the issue, but they could empathize with him.

Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2 June 1995 source ↗

James Norton English actor

I have a habit of sabotaging the moment in pursuit of perfection.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 July 2022 source ↗

Bill Clinton 42nd President of the United States, 1993–2001

I thought that I had lost for a reason, and I thought that I was a little unseasoned and immature, and I had — the way I made decisions my first term, I got a lot done, but I was better at doing what I wanted to do than listening to other people about what they thought I should be doing or how they thought I ought to be doing it.

Recorded Academy of Achievement interview source ↗

Paapa Essiedu British actor