According to Barefoot Bob, Clarence Snyder said this is the way they did it:

Before beginning the steps, the sponsor must first qualify the person who wants to follow the path. Find out if they really are alcoholic and learn if YOU believe they are willing and ready to go to any lengths to change their lives and not drink forever. (Big Book Page 142; "Will he take every necessary step and submit to anything to get well, to stop drinking forever?")

Ask your prospect three qualifying questions:

1. Do you think you have a drinking problem?
2. Do you want to do anything about the problem?
3. What are you willing to do about it?

If you get the answers: (1) "yes", (2) "yes", and (3) "anything", AND you feel that the person is ready to follow directions without question, you both are ready to continue all the way.

If you doubt they are ready, tell them so and then go on to the next person. On Page 96, the Big Book says; "to spend too much time on any one situation is to deny some other alcoholic an opportunity to live and be happy." The program and your own recovery are not dependent upon winning friends and influencing people.

If you feel they are ready, then you start. Plan to do all the steps in a few weeks, a month or so at most.

There are five phases to the Steps:

1. STEP 1: ADMISSION,
2. STEPS 2 and 3: SUBMISSION,
3. STEPS 4, 5, 6, and 7: CONFESSION,
4. STEPS 8 and 9: RESTITUTION,
5. STEPS 10, 11 and 12: THE LIVING STEPS, CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE

STEP ONE: Who's boss -- them or the alcohol? The earlier qualifying questions should pretty much answer the first half of this step...that our lives had become unmanageable. Not only our drinking, but also all phases of our existence were and are unmanageable. It stands to reason that if we cannot manage our lives and we are acting in a manner that is not very sane (unmanageability is not sane living), then we have to take...

STEP TWO: Come to believe that a power GREATER than ourselves -- something other than US -- can manage our lives. This is a power that can bring sanity back to the way we live. Who are we to believe that WE are the greatest? When we did Step 1, we admitted that we could not manage our own lives. When we took Step 2, we said that someone greater than us could manage us and restore us. We needed to have a new manager, a living, loving God (whom we cannot fully comprehend).

STEP THREE: We made the decision that we needed to come under new management since our own management got us nowhere. So we turn our wills and lives over to the care of our new manager; God. He will take care of us and manage our lives since we admitted in Step 1 that our lives were unmanageable, and in Step 2, that He could restore us to a manageable state and sanity. At this point both of you get down on your knees. When both of you are ready, the sponsor says: "God, this is (name) _____. He is humbly coming to you to ask You to guide and direct him. (Name) _____ realizes that his life is messed up and unmanageable. (Name) _____ is coming to you in all humility to ask to be one of your children, to work for you, to serve and dedicate his life to you and to turn his will and his life over to you so he may become an instrument of your love.

Then, the newcomer repeats after sponsor: "God, I ask that You guide and direct me. I have decided to turn my will and life over to you, to serve you and dedicate my life to you. I believe that if I ask for your guidance in prayer, I shall receive what I have asked for. Thank you, God. Amen."

[Note: The Step 3 Prayer on page 63 of the Big Book reads: "Many of us said to our Maker, as we understood Him; 'God, I offer myself to Thee--to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!" We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready; that we could at last abandon ourselves utterly to Him."]

Now that we have gone under new management, we believe what it says in page 60 of the Big Book at the end of the Steps in How It Works:

A: We were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives,

B: No human power could RELIEVE our alcoholism,

C: GOD COULD AND WOULD IF HE WERE SOUGHT!!!!!

Then we have to take an inventory.

STEP FOUR: Take a searching and fearless moral inventory. We must find out what we've got, what we need to get rid of, and what we need to acquire. There are 20 character defects to ask about -- the individual wrongs are not necessary to go over, just the defects that caused them. Going over the questions, you ask the newcomer to be honest and admit his defects to himself, to you, and to God. Where two or more are gathered in His name, there shall He be.

By admitting his shortcomings, the person also takes...

STEP FIVE: The inventory is of our defects, not our incidents. Here are the defects:

1. Resentment, Anger;
2. Fear, Cowardice;
3. Self pity;
4. Self justification;
5. Self importance, Egotism;
6. Self condemnation, Guilt;
7. Lying, Evasiveness, Dishonesty;
8. Impatience;
9. Hate;
10. False pride, Phoniness, Denial;
11. Jealousy;
12. Envy;
13. Laziness;
14. Procrastination;
15. Insincerity;
16. Negative Thinking;
17. Immoral thinking;
18. Perfectionism, Intolerance;
19. Criticizing, Loose Talk, Gossip;
20. Greed;

Now that the newcomer has admitted these defects, ask, "Don't you want to get rid of them?"

These same defects caused your life to be unmanageable. How can you ask God to get rid of the THINGS you did in your past? You can't!

You can ask to get rid of the defects, which caused you to act in the manner you did by taking...

STEP SIX: You became entirely ready (not almost, not just about, not partially, but ENTIRELY) to have God remove ALL (not some) of these defects. (He cannot remove things that have already happened, but he can remove what CAUSED them.) You are ready to get rid of ALL of them, even the ones that seemed fun. REMEMBER, YOU TURNED YOUR WILL AND LIFE OVER TO GOD IN STEP THREE. Now comes...

STEP SEVEN: On your knees, ask that these defects, these shortcomings listed in your inventory, be removed. When both of you are on your knees, the sponsor says: "God, here is your child, (name) ____. He is coming to you to ask your forgiveness, believing that anything he asks in prayer, he may receive." The newcomer repeats after sponsor: "God, I humbly ask you to remove my shortcomings and forgive me for my sins and trespasses. I ask that you remove my defects and shortcomings. Thank you God, Amen."

[Note: the Step 7 Prayer on page 76 of the Big Book reads, "My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen."]

STEP EIGHT: You make a list of all persons you have harmed, starting with yourself, family, friends, employers, employees, etc. We discuss briefly this list, and ask if they are willing to make restitution and amends. (Since the sponsor is boss - you really don't ask... it is assumed.) Then restitution is made to all as soon as possible, except in certain instances where it is turned over to God. They will have done STEP NINE: by making restitution. After doing these nine steps, your slate is wiped clean. You are reborn as it says in the Big Book on page 63, "We were reborn."

STEP TEN: We continued to take personal inventory every day: Did you harm anyone, have you done something wrong? Do you deserve a gold star or a black mark? When you are wrong, promptly admit it. Deal with your life by the four absolutes: ABSOLUTE LOVE, ABSOLUTE HONESTY, ABSOLUTE UNSELFISHNESS, and ABSOLUTE PURITY. Did you act out of Love? Were you honest? Were you unselfish? Were your motives pure? All things must be based on these four things...

STEP ELEVEN: Prayer is talking to God. Meditation is listening to Him. Pray, read the Big Book and other spiritual writings. Learn the spiritual principles so that you will understand them when you meditate. Remember to say and think many times each day; "Thy will, not mine, be done!" Then listen!

STEP TWELVE: A spiritual awakening is THE RESULT of working, DOING, and LIVING, ALL of the 12 Steps! Then you have this message to carry to others. There is no message unless you have done the first nine Steps and are living the last three. You cannot give what you do not have. You must practice these principles in ALL your affairs.

Now it is your responsibility to give this message to others as you have received it. Not changed, watered down, or how others may want it in their lives. If they want what you have, they must do what you did. It is now your legacy to hand down, AS IT WAS GIVEN TO YOU -- NO OTHER WAY!!!! It is recommended that two people work with the newcomer through the steps whenever possible, so that both may learn as well as give.

There is no easier, softer way -- this is it. This is the program of recovery as it was in the 1930's and 1940's in Ohio, as Dr. Bob gave it. You can and DO recover, you don't have to stay sick -- you can and do get WELL!!! This is the solution; this is HOW IT WORKS.

For more about Clarence, look elswhere in this website.