It begins on Thursday, of the week before.
Co-ordinating a weekly element that has been running since the Otago Daily Times' weekend magazine The Weekend Mix first hit letterboxes and news stands on September 27, 2014, means constantly monitoring for gender balance.
That was not a problem with the first edition of the award-winning magazine, which coincided with a series of Southern concerts by perennial Kiwi entertainers the Top Twins. Lynda and Jools Top were asked five questions from a pool of eight that has remained virtually unchanged during the past three years.
Over that time, ambassadors, musicians, heads of industry, politicians, sports men and women and the mouthpieces for community organisations ranging from the Southern Ladies Kennel Association to the Otago Bonsai Society have let readers know their favourite birthday present, three things they would take to an island, a strong childhood memory, something only their family knows about them ... That is a cumulative 690 slivers of insight about people in our community or in the news.
Two of the questions posed are particularly revealing: What is your least favourite thing about humanity? And, what is your message?
Three years on, the Five Questions With archive is a rich resource of aggregated wisdom about what constitutes a well-lived life and a welling reservoir of opinion about what is most wrong with humankind.In the inaugural Five Questions With, the Top Twins gave joint answers to both of those questions.
Asked what their least favourite thing about humanity was, they replied: ''Greed and inequality. The fact that in this day and age people are starving. That shouldn't happen.''
Their message, they said, was: ''Be generous. With your time, your money and your spirit''.
Chris Skellet is a Dunedin-based clinical psychologist, speaker and author. In 2015, he shared the stage with the Dalai Lama at a conference in Sydney. He has been having a look at the past three years' worth of answers to those two important questions.
''Overall, there seems to be general agreement that we are lacking compassion in our lives,'' Mr Skellet says.
''We have become selfish consumers rather than altruistic helpers for others.''
He bases that on a collation of dozens of responses to both questions, all sorted into themes. Under the ''What is your message?'' banner, the two biggest groupings are ''Go hard'' and ''Treat others well''. There are other, smaller message themes such as ''Be yourself'', ''Be happy'' and ''Show respect''. Left-field message responses include ''Get out more'' by Bill Gosden, MNZM, who is director of the New Zealand International Film Festival, and ''Avoid generalisations at all times'', by psychology professor Jamin Halberstadt, of the University of Otago.
When it comes to ''What is your least favourite thing about humanity?'', the largest grouping, by a big margin is ''Greed'', followed by ''Selfishness'' and ''Unkindness''. Other ''least favourite'' themes include ''Inequality'' and ''War''. Sir Jerry Mateparae, the then Governor-General, gave a one word response: ''Prejudice''. Mr Gosden continued to fly the flag for the left field, pronouncing anathema: ''Classic rock stations piped on to public transport''.
On Friday, after selecting a likely Five Questions With profilee, their contact details have to be found and contact made by phone, followed up with an email.
Some people are easier to contact than others. In the run-up to last year's Summer Olympics, in Brazil, efforts were made to put five questions in front of Rob Waddell, former gold medal Olympian and chef de mission for New Zealand's 2016 Olympic squad.
After being repeatedly swatted away by Olympic team communications staff, email contact was established with Waddell, who was already in Rio de Janiero.
''Find what you really enjoy doing in life and are naturally good at,'' Waddell said.
''If you do what you are truly passionate about, you will always feel successful and happy.''Others are much easier to get in touch with.
Sir Eion Edgar - the businessman, philanthropist, former chancellor of the University of Otago, former director of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and former chairman of the New Zealand Stock Exchange - was listed in the phone book, answered the phone himself and proclaimed himself a fan of the ODT, the Mix and Five Questions With.
''The harder you work, the luckier you get,'' is Sir Eion's message.
Waddell's and Sir Eion's responses are among many in the ''Go hard'' group.
''Many of the respondents are successful people in their own right,'' Mr Skellet observes.
''They clearly want to share their belief that rolling up your sleeves to achieve personally meaningful goals is worthwhile.''
Sociology professor Hugh Campbell was also asked to cast his experienced eye over the data.
The University of Otago academic views the ''Go hard'' message as part of a society-wide cultural shift that took hold after 1984.
Prof Campbell says research by Associate Prof Karen Nairn shows neoliberal thinking, known in New Zealand as Rogernomics, has created ''a broad societal shift emphasising personal responsibility and away from the idea that New Zealand should be a decent society''.
''We live our lives saturated in those kinds of messages,'' Prof Campbell says.
Getting in touch with potential profilee Adrian Thompson was comparatively simple, given that he lives in France. A workmate, who the previous day had written an article on the chairman of the Californian tech firm that has set up shop in Dunedin, fished Mr Thompson's cellphone number out of the rubbish bin next to his desk. Five minutes later, Mr Thompson, about to board a plane in Los Angeles, was reciting his email address.
''Greed,'' he said, of his least favourite thing about humanity.
''And the desire to take from people who have less and are not as well informed.
''It has been an oft-repeated denunciation.
''Greed. Not just materially, but in everything we do,'' Angie Sisifa, captain of the division-winning Pirates Rugby Club premier women's team, said.
''Greed and entitlement: the sense from some people that the world owes them. I can't stand that,'' Jonathan Sinclair, British High Commissioner to New Zealand, said.
Reflecting on the concerns repeatedly expressed during the past 36 months, Mr Skellet says, ''We have become too busy. We have forgotten how to relax and be kind''.
Prof Campbell sees in the concern about greed, selfishness and unkindness the beginning of a return to older, kinder values.
''It accords with this wider societal shift we are seeing at the moment,'' he says.
''We have an increasing number of people, and not just young people, who feel society's current macro settings have swung too much towards individualism and competition.''
People are starting to turn back towards 'What does it mean to be a good society and to be more mutually supportive?'.
Some profiles take an inordinate amount of time to bring together.
Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy's contribution ran in the Mix on July 22, this year. The first approach was made a year prior.
''New Zealand has the talent to contribute creative, innovative responses to global challenges,'' was Dame Patsy's message.
Others never come together. Some, because they repeatedly decline the invitation. Sportsmen (particularly rugby players), because by-and-large they seem utterly baffled by questions such as ''What smell do you find irresistible?'' or ''You are a new addition to the crayon box. What colour are you, and why?''.
Ben Smith, Prof Harlene Hayne, Jamie Joseph, Dame Susan Devoy, Sir John Kirwan, Nicky Hagar ... if you are reading this, all is forgiven; it still is not too late to get in touch.
It is a shame not to have their contributions. Because, as Mr Skellet says, there is potential power in reflecting on other people's life messages.
Tuesday of the week the profile will appear in the paper gives a taste of that transformative experience.
That is the day when an email laden with the profilee's experiences and personal insights usually arrives in the inbox.
Opening that email is almost invariably an ''aha'' moment, in which the name becomes a three dimensional person and their distilled thoughts on how to live life, and how not to live life, are tried on for size in the dressing room of the mind.
Mr Skellet says one of the best workshop exercises he leads involves participants recalling and sharing one good piece of life advice given to them by their mother, their father or another role model.
''There is nothing wrong with quoting received wisdom and using it as your own motto for life,'' he says.
What your message is does not matter too much.It could be Otakou Maori Women's Welfare League president Natalie Karaitiana's ''Tatou, tatou - all of us working together''; Dunedin International Airport chief executive Richard Roberts' ''Every day you should live life like you love it''; or, Otago Access Radio station manager Lesley Paris' ''Embrace diversity and stay curious''.
Just make sure your message does not trample others' rights and describes what you stand for rather than what you are against, Mr Skellet says.
''It brings clarity and purpose to your life,'' he says.
''If you have a simple motto or message that you reference frequently, then it guides all of your decisions in life.
''Your values are like a moral compass, while your vision, or message, is like your flag. At a glance, you know what you stand for and where you are going.''
When it comes to trying to change the things we do not like about humanity, Mr Skellet suggests focusing on positive alternatives.
If we do not like the greed that surrounds us, then speak out for anything that promotes altruism. If we do not like violence, then march for peace, he says.
''If we focus too much on what we don't like, we can get stuck. It's far better to promote what we do like, and be role models for that.''
By Thursday, the profilee's responses to Five Questions With have been tidied up, a photo and caption has been added and the subeditors are busy putting it and the rest of the Mix together.
Bright and early on Saturday morning the weekend edition of the ODT, complete with inserted magazine the Mix, is being slipped into letterboxes throughout the region.
Inside the cover of the Mix, at the top of the page, this week's instalment of Five Questions With waits to give each reader an insight, a prod, a sigh or a smile.
Today's Five Questions With opens the window a little on the life and mind of incumbent Prime Minister Bill English.
Do you agree with him, or disagree? What memories of your own are jogged by his? What reflections does it trigger about needed change in society and about how you want to live your life?Mr Skellet offers his own personal message about how to achieve a life well-lived.
Recognise whether you need to speed up or slow down, to look ahead more or to look around more, to tighten up or loosen up, and finally to do more or to be more, he says.
''Balance the pleasure of the moment with the satisfaction of achieving meaningful personal goals.''
- Next week's profilee will be New Zealand's other prime ministerial candidate, Jacinda Ardern. What is her least favourite thing about humanity? What is her message? Find out in Five Questions With.
