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AA Traditions Checklist
Self-check questions drawn from the first eight AA Traditions, for personal reflection or group discussion.
A real, editable checklist below — tick, tap a line to rewrite, drag to reorder.
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This list is for AA members who want to look at their own part in a group, or for a group looking for discussion prompts. The questions come from a series on the Twelve Traditions in the AA Grapevine, which ran from November 1969 to September 1971. They were written mainly for one person at a time, and many groups have since used them to start a conversation. This version covers Traditions One to Eight and is arranged in four themes: unity, service, newcomers, then money and outside matters. It leaves out Nine to Twelve, does not replace meetings or AA literature, and gives no advice on drinking or treatment.
Why these items are on the list
- Ask if you unite or divide. Tradition One asks whether you act as a peacemaker in your group or add to division.
- Notice gossip in your group. Tradition One raises gossip and taking other members' inventories.
- Watch for group comparisons. Tradition One lists weighing one group or place against another as a way of dividing.
- Support AA as a whole. Tradition One asks if you support all of AA or only the parts you understand and approve of.
- Learn from other members. Tradition Four asks whether you put down behaviour unlike yours or learn from it.
- Trust your group's servants. Tradition Two asks if you criticise, or trust and support, officers, committees and office workers.
- Take your turn at chores. Tradition Two asks if you still serve your turn at chores a few years into sobriety.
- Check whether you seek credit. Tradition Two also asks about looking for credit in AA jobs or praise for your ideas.
- Avoid posing as an expert. Tradition Eight asks whether you come across as an authority on alcoholism, recovery or medicine.
- Welcome every newcomer. Tradition Three states the one requirement for membership: a desire to stop drinking.
- Set aside snap judgments. Tradition Three asks if language, religion, race, education or age affect how you carry the message.
- Help newcomers their way. Tradition Four asks if you would help a newcomer stay sober in their own way, not yours.
- Keep the primary purpose in mind. Tradition Five says each group has one primary purpose: carrying the message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
- Answer the next newcomer. Tradition Five asks if you would take on the next newcomer no matter what you gain from it.
- Help keep AA self-supporting. Tradition Seven asks if you do what you can to keep your group, central office and GSO self-supporting.
- Read Guidelines on Clubs. Tradition Six asks whether club officers and members know it; the source says GSO offers it free.
- Read the Traditions literature. Tradition Eight asks about Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions and the pamphlet AA Tradition: How It Developed.
Go through one theme at a time on your phone, and stop when a question needs thought. If you use it in a group, one person can read each question aloud.
When to use it
Use it before a group discussion on the Traditions, or when you want to look at your own part in your group.