“If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it — then you are ready to take certain steps.” — Alcoholics Anonymous (1939) · Chapter 5 · How It Works
From Chapter 5, the sentence that opens the door to the Twelve Steps — and to the twelve days that follow here, one Step at a time.
The entry fee isn’t belief, intelligence, or even hope — it’s wanting what sober people have badly enough to go to any length. That phrase scares newcomers until they do the math: we already went to any length for the drink. Lengths are not new to us. The program just redirects a work ethic we tragically already proved we had. Over the next twelve days, we’ll walk the Steps one at a time, exactly as printed in 1939.
Willingness