Life’s too short to take offence.
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two fully readable publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Never save anything for best.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 November 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 137 →Stress is bad for your health.
To be here in this one moment.
To keep trying to listen to yourself.
More from Tom Allen
View profile →The fear of nightmares.
On holiday in Spain with my family about 20 years ago. Sad, but true.
I once had to sit on a sleigh and pretend to be Bing Crosby for a corporate party. I had to mime to White Christmas over and over again.
Not understanding myself until I was in my 30s.
I did a corporate gig early in my career, and they opened the buffet in the middle of my set and everybody left.
The greatest athlete we never knew we had.
More on time & hindsight
- When were you happiest? 577 answers
- What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self, and what should they ignore? 77 answers
- What scares you about getting older? 61 answers
- What is the best advice you have ever received? 28 answers
- If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere, what would it say and why? 23 answers
- What is something you were told by a parent, teacher, or mentor that you still repeat to yourself? 22 answers
Also answered this · A–Z
Adam Lambert, Alex Hassell, Alex Lawther, Andrew Ridgeley, Arlene Phillips, Barack Obama
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- All time & hindsight questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject