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STEP THE F*CK UP

How to Use Step The F*ck Up With a Group: A 12-Meeting Leader's Guide

By Joshua S. Brogley · October 25, 2026

Part of the series How to Start a Men's Accountability Group That Lasts Past Week Three

Step The F*ck Up was written for one man and one page a day. It also runs as a group program almost perfectly, because every reader is on the same day number, every day has a mission with a box, and the book has checkpoints and month gates at fixed days that make ready-made agendas. This is the leader's guide: how to set it up, the weekly check-in, and the twelve monthly meetings, one per theme. It is free to use and adapt. Groups that want copies for everyone can use the group and bulk orders page.

Setup

Pick a start date and get every member a copy before it. Day 1 is the same day for everyone; the book's pages are numbered by day, not by date, so a group that starts in March is on the same footing as one that starts in January. Agree on two things in the first meeting: the weekly check-in format below, and the rule from Day 109, miss once, never twice. A member who misses a week of pages does not restart; he picks up today's day and keeps going. The group's job is to keep the gap at one.

The weekly check-in

Fifteen to thirty minutes, any channel, same time every week. Each man answers three questions. How many of the last seven missions did you complete? What excuse showed up most this week, in its own words? What is one mission from this week that you want the group to hear about? That third question is where the meetings come alive, because the missions are specific and personal: the screen-time number, the fear named in writing, the boundary stated, the friend carried. Keep it short. The book does the heavy lifting; the group adds the witness.

The twelve monthly meetings

1. Month 1, Excuses. Each man reads his Day 1 excuse aloud. Discuss: which excuse was hardest to bury?
2. Month 2, Fear. Share the title fight from Day 58, the fear named and dated. The group follows up on the date.
3. Month 3, The Voice. Read the five commands from Day 76. Day 90 is the quarter gate: what is different?
4. Month 4, Discipline. What is your one non-negotiable, and has it survived? Audit comfort creep against Day 1.
5. Month 5, Ownership. Read the signed deed from Day 150. What are you still blaming?
6. Month 6, Body. Compare baseline numbers from Day 152 to now. Sign the lease together.
7. Month 7, Proof. The halfway mirror, Day 183. Read your Day 1 page with today's eyes, out loud.
8. Month 8, People. The month the group will recognize itself in. Corner roles from Day 215, and the Corner Oath on Day 242, signed in the room.
9. Month 9, Money. Three numbers per man, no judgment. Read the Money Rules from Day 253.
10. Month 10, Resilience. Share the bounce routine. Who in the group is carrying the most right now?
11. Month 11, Standards. Read each man's we don't do that here list. Hold each other to it.
12. Month 12, Legacy. Name your successor, the person you will hand the book to. Day 365 is the final mirror; meet the week after.

Why it works in a group

Because the hardest part of any year-long program is week three, month four and the week after the funeral, and a group is a witness for exactly those moments. Day 223 says it: training beside somebody builds a different animal, the rep you do not skip because he is watching. The book supplies the daily rep; the group supplies the somebody. Starting a men's group covers the setup in general; the accountability questions are for the deeper meetings; Month Eight is the month to read before you invite anyone.

Step The F*ck Up

365 days, one page a day: excuses, fear, the voice, discipline, ownership, body, proof, people, money, resilience, standards, legacy. No theory. A mission a day.

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Can Step The F*ck Up be used in a group?

Yes. Every member starts Day 1 the same week, meets weekly for a short check-in on missions completed, and monthly for a longer meeting on the month's theme, using the book's month gates as agendas. Missed days are not restarted; the rule is never miss twice.

How do you run a book club for a self-improvement book?

Give every member the same daily or weekly assignment, check completion at each meeting with a number rather than a story, and use the book's own structure for the agenda. Discussion without an assignment fades within a month.

written by the author, at the kitchen table, after work.