I’m quite stubborn.
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
What would you like to leave your children?
Death & what remains
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.
Always saying yes to people. For example, I’m doing this.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 June 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
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Paapa Essiedu
British actor
I find it difficult to sit still.
I very often set my heart on things – and if they don’t happen, I’m not great at dealing with disappointment.
Impatience. I’m not very good at waiting around or dealing with things that aren’t moving at a pace that I want them to.
More from Lee Child
View profile →The exact median middle-aged black woman in the US. If hard work guaranteed success, she’d be the most successful person on the planet. But she isn’t, yet she keeps on going.
A painting by Renoir, paid for by demanding a huge fee for a screenwriting deal with a producer I didn’t want to work for. The movie was never made.
I’m from Birmingham. I’m not afraid of things. Things are afraid of me.
Nothing. If I’m worried or upset or tormented, I go to sleep quickly and easily, to find welcome oblivion.
First loved, then laid, then paid.
More than I can, sadly. I led the softest of lives in the softest of times, and my daughter will face sterner challenges.
More on identity & self
Also answered this
Chris McCausland, Alfred Molina, Esther Freud, Lemn Sissay, Daryl McCormack, Shobna Gulati
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