Essayist, critic and journalist
Recorded · Vanity Fair · 2010
There is an even longer shot that I do propose to attempt even though its likely efficacy lies at the outer limits of probability.
Death & what remains
Facing mortality
Six questions about regret, last chances, what remains, and how knowing you will die has changed how you live.
6 questions, 111 quoted from what public figures said elsewhere, each with its source. Every question is asked in FLAPSS wording — nobody answers as anybody else.
Worth reading
What are you still hoping to finish?
Mountaineer and explorer; first ascent of Everest, 1953
Recorded · Academy of Achievement
As I’ve gotten older, my goals have become more solidified. My main concentration is on the welfare of the people I’ve worked with in the Himalayas and on human welfare in general.
Songwriter and musician
Recorded · The New York Times Magazine · 2003
The songs aren't all written. ... You don't know where they're going to go. That's the fun of the job. There's the usual malarkey, the usual gags, the usual stuff.
Every question in this questionnaire
- What do you expect to regret, and is there still time to do something about it? 2
- What would you say to somebody you love if you knew it was your last chance — and have you said it? 2
- What would you want written on your gravestone? 30
- Has knowing you will die changed how you live? 11
- What are you still hoping to finish? 12
- If you had only one day left, how would you spend it — and what would you deliberately avoid? 54
Related questionnaires
General
The general questionnaire
Twelve questions in FLAPSS wording — taste, daily life, craft, failure, and who formed you. The place to start if you have no idea where to start.
Identity & self
An honest inventory
For a birthday, a quiet Sunday, or the week you realise you have been answering other people's priorities. Not a goal worksheet — the questions people answer differently at fifty than at twenty-five.
Reading & recommendations
Reading & recommendations
Five questions about books you pass on, books that changed you, gaps on your list, and long-form work that stayed with you.