This study explores the concept of habits as a form of goal-directed automatic behavior. It posits that habits are mentally represented as associations between goals and actions, and that these associations can be activated automatically when the relevant goal is present. The research aims to test this hypothesis through three experiments focusing on cycling behavior among Dutch college students. **Experiment 1** examines whether habitual bicycle users respond faster to the word "bicycle" when activated with travel goals compared to nonhabitual users. Results show that habitual users respond faster, confirming the automatic activation of habitual behavior by goals. **Experiment 2** compares habits with conscious planning. Participants were asked to plan travel goals or unrelated tasks. Habitual users did not benefit from planning, while nonhabitual users showed faster responses when planning was related to the travel goal. This suggests that habits are already strongly linked to actions, whereas planning can simulate these links for nonhabitual individuals. **Experiment 3** replicates the findings by manipulating the presence of location words to rule out their influence on response times. Results support the hypothesis that the presence of locations does not affect the automatic activation of habitual behavior by goals. Overall, the experiments provide evidence that habits are indeed mental representations of goal-action links, and that these links can be activated automatically by goal activation.This study explores the concept of habits as a form of goal-directed automatic behavior. It posits that habits are mentally represented as associations between goals and actions, and that these associations can be activated automatically when the relevant goal is present. The research aims to test this hypothesis through three experiments focusing on cycling behavior among Dutch college students. **Experiment 1** examines whether habitual bicycle users respond faster to the word "bicycle" when activated with travel goals compared to nonhabitual users. Results show that habitual users respond faster, confirming the automatic activation of habitual behavior by goals. **Experiment 2** compares habits with conscious planning. Participants were asked to plan travel goals or unrelated tasks. Habitual users did not benefit from planning, while nonhabitual users showed faster responses when planning was related to the travel goal. This suggests that habits are already strongly linked to actions, whereas planning can simulate these links for nonhabitual individuals. **Experiment 3** replicates the findings by manipulating the presence of location words to rule out their influence on response times. Results support the hypothesis that the presence of locations does not affect the automatic activation of habitual behavior by goals. Overall, the experiments provide evidence that habits are indeed mental representations of goal-action links, and that these links can be activated automatically by goal activation.