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Chapter Five

                                                            How It Works
                    63  32  Next we launched out on a course of vigorous action,
                    63  33  the first step of which is a personal housecleaning,
                    64  1      which many of us had never attempted. Though our
                    64  2      decision was vital and crucial step, it could have little
                    64  3      permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous
                    64  4      effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves
                    64  5      which had been blocking us. Our liquor was but a
                    64  6      symptom. So we had to get down to causes and
                    64  7      conditions.
                    64  8      Therefore, we started upon a personal inventory.

                    64  9      This was Step Four. A business which takes no regular
                    64  10  inventory usually goes broke. Taking commercial
                    64  11  inventory is a fact-finding and a fact-facing process. It
                    64  12  is an effort to discover the truth about the stock-in-
                    64  13  trade. One object is to disclose damaged or unsalable
                    64  14  goods, to get rid of them promptly and without regret.
                    64  15  If the owner of the business is to be successful, he can-
                    64  16  not fool himself about values.
                    64  17  We did exactly the same thing with our lives. We
                    64  18  took stock honestly. First, we searched out the flaws
                    64  19  in our make-up which caused our failure. Being con-
                    64  20  vinced that self, manifested in various ways, was what

                    64  21  had defeated us, we considered its common manifest-
                    64  22  tations.

























                                                 Fourth Step Workshop Dec 5, 2015
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