As summer starts winding down and fall inches closer, the end of 2025 draws near, creating anxiety around the new year and a fresh set of resolutions.
For some social media users, they’ve decided they can’t wait until December to start working on their goals for 2026.
A new viral trend known as “The Great Lock In” emerged in mid-August, with participants committing to working on themselves from Sept. 1 until Dec. 31, according to the rules of this social media challenge.
The slang, often used by generation Z, is used to describe committing to a task or activity that will work as a resolution before New Year’s Eve arrives. For example, going to the gym twice a week, learning a new skill , all before January 2026.
TikTok user Kadie Glenn (@kadieglenn) video on tips for how to participate in “The Great Lock In” has garnered nearly 850,000 views, as of Sept. 3.
“It’s not about overhauling your life overnight,” Glenn said in the post. “It’s about stacking evidence that you are that girl, one consistent win at a time.”
According to Glenn, the new social media challenge is about consistently showing up, tracking progress, never missing something twice and creating what she calls “friction and flow” for habits.
“I don’t think you understand how serious the great lock in from August to December 2025 is,” X user @Quinnslcm wrote in August.
i dont think you understand how serious the great lock in from August to December 2025 is. you can feel it in your bones, the air starts tasting different, there's a restlessness in your soul that knows something is shifting. 2016 all over again.
— quinn (@quinnslcm) August 16, 2025
“You can feel it in your bones, the air starts tasting different, there’s a restlessness in your soul that knows something is shifting,” they wrote.
TikTok user @privttalex2.0 shared his 11 rules for locking in, including:
- Getting nine hours of sleep
- Being screen free for an hour before bed
- 10,000 steps a day
However, unlike other older trends, this trend is not limited to gen-Z or people who are fitness enthusiasts.
TikTok user Tatiana Forbes (@_tatianaforbes) said the trend is “more than enough time to change your life” in a post with more than 800,000 views.
“Seventy-five hard, the Winter Arc, The Great Lock In, they’re all the same thing,” Forbes said in the video. “It’s all programming your mind to ‘go hard’ for a sprint of time.”
