Step 6 and 7 AA: Readiness and Asking for Help

Key takeaway

Step 6 is becoming entirely ready to have God remove your defects of character. Step 7 is humbly asking Him to remove your shortcomings. The Big Book treats willingness as the indispensable part, and says that if you still cling to something, you ask God to help you be willing.

Last updated: Sat Oct 17 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

You have admitted the things you did. Now the book asks a question that can stop a person cold: are you ready to have them removed? Not sorry. Not ashamed. Ready. Steps Six and Seven are about that gap between knowing a pattern is ruining your life and being willing to let it go.

If you are in danger, call 911 for a medical emergency or call or text 988 for a mental health crisis. NIAAA warns that alcohol withdrawal can be life threatening for heavy drinkers who stop suddenly. A step is not a substitute for medical care.

The steps as they are printed

Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Those are the sixth and seventh steps on aa.org and in the chapter How It Works. Chapter 6, Into Action, gives the working instructions.

Willingness is the whole hinge

Chapter 6 says the first members emphasized willingness as indispensable. Then it asks two questions: Are we now ready to let God remove from us all the things we have admitted are objectionable? Can He now take them all, every one?

That word all is where people stall. You may be ready to give up the lying and not ready to give up the resentment you have been nursing for years. You may be ready to stop drinking and not ready to stop controlling everyone around you. The book does not pretend otherwise. Its instruction for that exact situation is to ask God to help you be willing. Not to fake readiness. To ask for it.

That is a low enough bar to step over tonight. You do not have to want the change yet. You have to be willing to become willing.

Defects of character, not personality traits

The steps use the words defects of character and shortcomings. They do not mean your sense of humor, your introversion, or the parts of your personality that other people find inconvenient. They mean the patterns that showed up in your Fourth Step: the selfishness, dishonesty, self-seeking, and fear that the Big Book names as the root of its writers' troubles.

It helps to be specific. "I am a bad person" is not a defect; it is a verdict. "I lie when I am afraid of being judged" is a pattern you can watch and ask to have removed. A sponsor or a trusted friend can help you tell the difference, especially if you are prone to confessing everything and changing nothing.

The prayer in the book

After Step Six, Chapter 6 gives words for Step Seven:

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.

The book then says: We have then completed Step Seven. Notice there is no ceremony and no certificate. The prayer is short enough to say in a parked car. You can use these words or your own. The point is the asking, not the phrasing.

What this step is not

It is not willpower with a religious coat of paint. The book is clear that the first members could not reduce their self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on their own power. That is why the step asks for help rather than demanding a better effort.

It is not a promise of instant perfection. Later in the same chapter, the Big Book says its writers were not cured of alcoholism and had a daily reprieve contingent on maintaining their spiritual condition. Chapter 5 says the principles are guides to progress and that members claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection. You will still make mistakes. Step Ten is where the program builds that in.

It is also not a personality transplant. The goal is not to become bland or agreeable. It is to become useful, to stop hurting people in the same ways, and to be able to look at yourself without flinching.

How people actually work it

Most people keep the list of defects short and concrete. They name three or four patterns they saw in the inventory, not a catalogue of every flaw since childhood. They say the prayer, or a version of it, alone or with a sponsor. Some write the defect on one side of a card and the opposite behavior on the other, then look at it during the week.

Then they watch. When the old pattern shows up, they notice it, tell someone, and try a different response. That is closer to the daily work of the program than any single moment of surrender. The Step Ten guide and the nightly review in Chapter 6 describe the ongoing version.

If you have no sponsor, you can still do this. Ask one person after a meeting how they worked Steps Six and Seven. The sponsorship pamphlet is built from that kind of shared experience. You are not asking for a verdict on your character. You are asking how they began.

When shame is the loudest voice

Shame can disguise itself as willingness. If you are naming defects in order to punish yourself, stop. That is not the step. The step asks for readiness to have something removed, not for a case file against yourself.

If the shame turns into thoughts of hurting yourself, call or text 988. If you cannot stop drinking and are at risk of withdrawal, get medical help rather than white-knuckling it. A meeting is peer support, not treatment; NIDA describes mutual-help groups as peer-led and not a substitute for clinical care. SAMHSA's National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), is free, confidential, and available around the clock.

If you want help finding treatment, call (800) 653-9376. The call is free to you, and providers pay for the referral service. This line is not A.A.

You do not have to be ready for all of it. You have to be honest about the one thing you are holding back, and willing to ask for the willingness you do not have yet.

Additional Resources

Sources cited on this page:

Common Questions

What is the exact wording of Steps Six and Seven?

Step Six reads: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. Step Seven reads: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. The words are printed on aa.org and in the chapter How It Works. The two steps are usually discussed together because the second follows directly from the first.

What is the difference between defects of character and shortcomings?

The steps use two different words for the same area of trouble. Step Six says defects of character; Step Seven says shortcomings. The Big Book does not draw a sharp line between them. Both point to the patterns you named in your inventory, the ones that keep causing harm and keep you distant from other people.

What if I am not ready to give up a defect?

Then say so. The Big Book anticipates this. It asks whether you are ready to let God remove all the things you have admitted are objectionable, and then says that if you still cling to something you will not let go, you ask God to help you be willing. Willingness to become willing is enough to start.

Do Steps Six and Seven mean I will never do these things again?

No. The Big Book says plainly that its writers were not cured of alcoholism and that what they had was a daily reprieve contingent on maintaining their spiritual condition. Step Ten exists because people continue to make mistakes. The steps ask for progress, not perfection; Chapter 5 says we claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.

Can I work Steps Six and Seven without a sponsor?

You can, though most people find it easier to name a defect out loud to someone who knows them. The step itself is between you and your understanding of God. A sponsor can help you tell the difference between a real character defect and a personality trait someone else dislikes. You do not need anyone's permission to ask for help.