The Power of the Pause
You do not have to catch the pattern before it starts. Stop wherever you are and watch what runs.
What you are looking for in the pause.
You are about to check your phone. Again. You know you just checked it three minutes ago. You know there is nothing there. And you are reaching for it anyway. Stop right there. Just for a second. And watch what runs.
What runs when you stop? Maybe it is boredom. Maybe it is discomfort with whatever you were doing before you reached. Maybe it is something quieter, a low-level sense that something somewhere might need your attention.
The pause is not a technique for stopping the pattern. It is just stopping wherever you are, long enough to see what is already happening.
What were you doing, or about to do, or just finished doing?
What did your system say? Write it exactly as it sounded.