Welcome to the Great Lock-In: Gen Z workers are embracing hustle culture for the fall.

"Across social media, "The Great Lock In" has begun. From September to the end of the year, participants say they are walking five miles every day in weighted vests. They're sleeping eight hours a night. They're drinking several liters of water a day. They're deactivating Instagram, but not before posting their lengthy lists on how to lock in on Instagram. What it means to go locked-in mode varies wildly - there is a lock-in for every key, it seems."

"The Great Lock In can include tackling financial goals, finding love, building community, and, perhaps more than anything, achieving maximum wellness. For women on TikTok, it's a time to journal and set intentions for self-improvement; for men on X, it's about maxing out on protein, skipping sugar, and taking cold showers. "No excuses, just grind," a rule posted to X states."

"Goodbye to the anti-work, lazy girl era or a summer of hedonism, where day drinking is followed by nightly doomscrolling through brain rot and AI slop. To close out a year marked by a herky-jerky economy, doom and gloom news cycles, and an increasing focus on the loneliness epidemic, people are committing to a 121-day-long mindful, self improvement journey that's part- 75 Hard, part-preamble to a New Year's resolution, part back-to-school energy (nostalgically so for those who graduated long ago), and ultimately the latest iteration of optimization culture."

The Great Lock In is a social-media-driven seasonal movement in which people commit from September to year-end to disciplined routines—walking five miles daily in weighted vests, sleeping eight hours, hydrating, and deactivating Instagram after posting plans. The movement spans goals including finances, relationships, community, and intense wellness practices that differ by platform: journaling and intention-setting on TikTok, and high-protein, low-sugar regimes with cold showers on X. Participants frame the 121-day span as a corrective to lax summer habits, economic uncertainty, bleak news cycles, and loneliness. The regimen functions as an attempt to reclaim control and structure. Kadie Glenn, a 28-year-old London consultant, joined after a difficult start to 2025.

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