Originally Posted by
DonaldS 
all I am doing in Step Three is deciding to continue with the rest of the steps--and that is where I actually accomplish the work of turning my life and my will over...
That is my experience with it. The decision in Step 3 has little permanent effect unless followed at once by strenuous action in Steps 4-9.
I also think that without the willingness to give up my life, my desires, dreams, opinions and all the rest of it in Step 3, I simply do not have the power to face or see the truth in Steps 4-7. I need a higher power to direct that process of uncovering the truth about causes and conditions.
The requirements state that I have to be convinced that any life run on self-will can hardly be successful. I got convinced of that by the evidence of the wreckage around me, but I didn't fully see the truth of that wreckage until it was revealed in Steps 4-5.