The Great Lock-in: ‘Every day I aim for one spiritual, one mental and one physical win’
Social media is awash with motivational tips for the last three months of the year. We speak to four young Muslims about their goals
These days, social media appears to have fully embraced corporate jargon and self-optimisation culture. The latest example can be found in The Great Lock-in, the idea that people use Q4 — October, November and December to the rest of us — to make the final push towards their 2026 goals.
Influencers such as Hanan Abdu, Jasmine Winter and Maral Abedin are all encouraging their followers to recommit to new year’s resolutions and set themselves new targets.
Whether it’s fitness, faith, your career or relationships, the message is that you can use the next three months to become the best version of yourself. Hyphen spoke to four Muslim professionals about what locking in means to them and what they hope to achieve.
Baboucar Badjie, 22, London
What do you do for a living?
I’m a consultant project manager in construction from London.
What does locking in mean to you?
It’s a period of time where you try to commit as much of your energy and time into something. We often say life is a marathon but locking in is a short sprint. I get this fire out of nowhere to go as hard as I can and see where it takes me — within reason, so that I don’t burn myself out.
What are your goals for Q4?
In July I got injured playing football and had to get two surgeries on my knee to repair the damage. My target is to try to get back to the level of fitness I had before the injury by keeping up with football, gym and running. There’s a mental goal as well to learn to trust my body again.
Dr Nafisa Darod, 33, Manchester
What do you do for a living?
I’m a psychiatrist working with people over the age of 65 with mental disorders and dementia.
What does locking-in mean to you?
It’s very difficult for me to achieve goals when it’s not decision and time specific. By locking in, there’s a sense of urgency and it’s more likely I can do what I need to do.
Locking in also means self care. If I’m not accounting for rest, then I am more likely to burn out. I will never commit to a lock-in that doesn’t involve resting and doing things that make me feel fulfilled.
What are your goals for Q4?
My career has taken up most of my life and I want to use this time to be more intentional with my own personal development. I want to be present more by spending more time with friends and family, reading things that are not medical related, moving my body and getting closer to my faith.
Aisha Hussain, 28, Newcastle
What do you do for a living?
I’m a hospital pharmacist.
What does locking-in mean to you?
Giving myself the time to focus on my personal goals and drowning out external distractions like social media.
What are your goals for Q4?
I’m an avid runner but running took a bit of a backseat because of work this summer. I want to get back into running so I can do a half-marathon next year. It can be hard to motivate myself to move my body after a long day of work but the satisfaction of looking after my body and mind after work is great.
I also want to learn Spanish so I can travel through South America in the upcoming year. I want to be dropped in a random Spanish-speaking town and be able to converse fluently by the end of the year. I plan on starting lessons at a university and reading books and watching TV in Spanish.
Malek Bouraine, 21, London
What do you do for a living?
I’m a content creator and personal brand strategist.
What does locking in mean to you?
For me, locking in and faith go hand in hand. Islam taught self-development long before any productivity book did. I like looking at my vision boards to reset my intentions. Making it my phone wallpaper means I can look at it all day and recommit myself to my goals.
What are your goals for Q4?
Every day I aim for one spiritual, one mental and one physical win. A spiritual win could be praying on time or reading a page of the Qur’an. A mental win could be reading 10 pages of a book or colouring. A physical win could be a short walk or a workout. Even on the worst of days, if I get those three done, it’s a successful day.
