What does it mean that triggers precede patterns?

Every pattern has a trigger — identifying the trigger is the key to changing the pattern.

Example: Every afternoon around 2:30 you open your phone and scroll social media for twenty minutes. The pattern isn't the scrolling. The pattern starts earlier — with the energy dip after lunch, the slightly boring task you've been avoiding, or the Slack notification that broke your focus. Identify the trigger and you can rewire the entire sequence. Miss it, and you're stuck trying to fight the behavior with willpower alone.

Try this: Pick one pattern you want to change. Over the next three days, every time the behavior fires, immediately write down: (1) what time it is, (2) where you are, (3) who is around you, (4) what you were doing right before, (5) what emotion you were feeling. After three days, look at your logs. The trigger will be whatever shows up in at least three out of five entries.