Craving the kind of success I pretend to despise.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
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 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 can be properly stubborn sometimes – but that’s me being a classic Leo.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 June 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 252 →Not following through on things.
James Norton
English actor
I have a habit of sabotaging the moment in pursuit of perfection.
Pauline McLynn
Irish character actress and author
I talk over people all the time.
More from Maya Jama
View profile →My Birkin bags, which I plan to pass on to my future children.
When people are disingenuous.
Euphoria, passion and feeling like nothing else in the world matters.
Probably missing out on roles I really, really wanted, but I’m a big believer that if it’s for you, you’ll have it. So those clearly weren’t for me.
You’ve got to keep trying because you don’t know what amazing things are round the corner. Also, always be grateful – at one point you wished to be where you are today.
That I wouldn’t be successful. Joke’s on them, I guess.
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