Self-centredness.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What happens when we die?
Death & what remains
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
What scares you about getting older?
Time & hindsight
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
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.
Not getting to the point.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 September 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 243 →Procrastination.
Yo-Yo Ma
Cellist
I love to break rules.
I don’t deplore anything about myself, but I am a perfectionist.
More from Alex Lawther
View profile →I spent about five years living in Paris thinking I would become Kristin Scott Thomas, and it didn’t happen.
I think we go back into the earth.
I would try and get to being comfortable with myself quicker.
A receding hairline.
My failed driving test a few months ago. I got three majors and by the end of it the examiner couldn’t wait to get out of the car.
Ponderous, over thinking.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Maya Jama, Carol Vorderman, Donatella Versace, Dervla Kirwan, David Hasselhoff, Rose Tremain
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