{"id":209441,"date":"2025-10-08T16:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T16:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/209441\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T16:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T16:02:11","slug":"how-the-great-lock-in-can-help-achieve-your-financial-and-wellness-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/209441\/","title":{"rendered":"How ‘The Great Lock In’ can help achieve your financial and wellness goals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 As the end of 2025 approaches, a viral TikTok trend<\/a> is helping people achieve their wellness goals: \u201cThe Great Lock In” encourages participants to finish the year strong by fully focusing on their life goals from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31.<\/p>\n

Many people focus on exercise or eating healthier. But the trend can also help you achieve your financial goals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

There are no set rules for \u201cThe Great Lock In.\u201d The phrase \u201clock in\u201d is popular on social media and it means to focus intensely on a task.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething I like about this particular trend is that it\u2019s like New Year\u2019s resolutions\u2019 little sister,\u201d said Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, financial therapist and founder of Mind Money Balance, a financial wellness podcast and blog.<\/p>\n

For Julissa Mercedes, 28, one of her lock in goals is to build an $2,500 emergency savings fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving some liquid cash will make me feel a little bit safer,\u201d said Mercedes, a San Diego resident who works in finance. Aside from building an emergency fund, Mercedes has three other goals: making a new friend, creating a morning routine, and picking up a new hobby.<\/p>\n

“The Great Lock In\u201d is meant to help people achieve New Year\u2019s resolutions<\/a> that might have fallen by the wayside. If you started your year planning to pay down debt<\/a> by cutting unnecessary expenses, and have yet to follow up on that, this challenge might help you with that goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s appealing to a lot of people who are just tired of feeling stuck and like they haven\u2019t been able to make any progress,\u201d said Ben Markley, personal finance educator and host of Sketchy Advice by YNAB, a budgeting app.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re thinking of participating in \u201cThe Great Lock In,\u201d or if you\u2019re already doing it, here are some expert recommendations to make your financial goals stick:<\/p>\n

Review your finances<\/p>\n

To build a goal that will benefit you, it\u2019s essential to review your finances, Bryan-Podvin said. She suggested that you review your bank account and spend some time figuring out how much you earn each month, as well as what you spend it on.<\/p>\n

If you made a New Year’s resolution around finances, this could be a good opportunity to check on your progress and see if you need to reassess your approach.<\/p>\n

Set attainable goals<\/p>\n

When participating in a challenge, it\u2019s best to set attainable goals, Markley said. Sometimes online challenges inspire people to make significant changes, but they can also lead them to create unattainable goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people can\u2019t sustain that at all, so they drop off,” he said. \u201cOr, they do sustain it, but then they go back to their normal life after the challenge, and their spending habits haven\u2019t fundamentally changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story Continues <\/p>\n

Setting a goal that is realistic in relation to your budget and lifestyle is the best way to make sure you can achieve it by the end of the challenge. Bryan-Podvin recommends looking at \u201cThe Great Lock In\u201d as a 5K race rather than a marathon.<\/p>\n

Focus on habit-building<\/p>\n

To continue achieving your financial goals into 2026, Markley recommends centering some of your lock in goals around building new habits or skills.<\/p>\n

For example, if your goal is to stop spending on takeout, focus on building a habit that\u2019s related to cooking.<\/p>\n

\u201cFind easy meals that you could cook at home with your skill level so that when you want to eat out, you have that to fall back on,\u201d Markley said.<\/p>\n

A great way to help create a habit is to use a habit-tracking tool. It can be as simple as setting reminders on your phone or downloading an app that sends you regular notifications, Bryan-Podvin said.<\/p>\n

Create community and accountability<\/p>\n

Social media can be a good place to find community support for achieving your goals, whether it’s joining a Facebook group, commenting on creators’ videos, or posting your own content.<\/p>\n

As she started \u201cThe Great Lock In\u201d challenge at the beginning of September, Mercedes also decided to document her experience on TikTok. Sharing her journey with followers helps with accountability, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing that people are still watching and keeping up with my content makes me feel like they\u2019re part of the journey too,\u201d Mercedes said.<\/p>\n

Reflect on your relationship with money<\/p>\n

As you use “The Great Lock In\u201d trend to achieve your financial goals, take a moment to reflect on your overall relationship with money.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive every dollar a specific job so that you\u2019re not going on autopilot when you spend, you\u2019re being intentional with your money and making sure that it\u2019s going towards the things you need and the things you care about,\u201d Markley said.<\/p>\n

Sitting down regularly, either by yourself or with your partner<\/a>, and reviewing your spending habits can help with your long-term financial goals.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s OK if it\u2019s not for you<\/p>\n

If you try this challenge and you find out it doesn\u2019t work for you, that is OK, Markley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can find something else that works, and it\u2019s no reflection on your character if you don\u2019t pull off \u2018The Great Lock-In,\u2019\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

While social media challenges can help inspire people to achieve their goals, it\u2019s not worth adding unnecessary stress to your life because of a challenge. Not every trend works for everyone, and there are many other ways that you can achieve your financial goals, Markley said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 As the end of 2025 approaches, a viral TikTok trend is helping people achieve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[119919,28,23684,119764,119921,8914,119920,147,530,119918],"class_list":{"0":"post-209441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-ben-markley","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-financial-goals","11":"tag-lindsay-bryan-podvin","12":"tag-markley","13":"tag-mercedes","14":"tag-new-years-resolutions","15":"tag-personal-finance","16":"tag-personalfinance","17":"tag-wellness-goals"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}