The Great Lock-In: Build Habits, Hit Goals, and Enter 2026 Ahead

Today's episode is going to have you feeling energized, aligned, and ready to manifest some serious money wins. I am joined by my good friend Nicole. She is the founder of she Investor and she is a total powerhouse when it comes to blending spiritual principles with smart financial strategy. Nicole teaches women how to tap into spiritual laws and money energetic principles beyond just the law of Attraction to shift their relationship with money, build wealth consciously, and align their bank account with their highest self. In this conversation, we're breaking down how to actually use these laws to change the way you earn, save, spend and invest. No fluff, just a whole lot of universal truth and practical magic. If you've ever felt like you're doing all of the right things financially but something still feels off or you feel like your energy just is not quite aligned with your money goals, this one is for you. Let's go ahead and dive in. What is up? Welcome back to the podcast and welcome to Lock In Season. I am going to be so real right now. The entire objective of this podcast for me is to to convince you that there is absolutely no better time than right now to go all in on your goals. I'm talking about the Great lock in of 2025, y'. All. Which by the way, I actually had never heard that term before. I got on the good old TikTok this week, which that's a fun update for you. I am officially taking TikTok seriously. And by seriously I mean I literally do not know how to use the app. I am not a TikToker. I'm not like a avid scroller on the app. So I don't really know what's going on over there. All I know is that everyone tells me I would have so much fun on the app and that the girly pops are really warm and welcoming over there. So I decided to pick up TikTok. And that is where I learned that the Great lock in of 2025 is in fact a thing. I did not know that it had like its own title, if you will, that we're calling it. But I did feel the vibe. And every year around September, I feel the vibe. And the vibe is let's get shit done. I feel like it's coming out of the summer months. Summer is such a vibe. We're traveling, we're doing, I don't know, whatever. And then September rolls around and we are officially in Virgo season, which if you know anything about Virgo season, it's like to do list and tasks and habits and just being very, very in tune with that stuff. It's also back to school season. It's also like, we have four months left of the year. That means I don't know about you, but I'm looking at my goals and I'm like, we have got some moves to make. And so every time around this year, I don't know what it is, but I just feel that energy. And now I will be calling it the great lock in of whatever year we are in. So the great lock in of 2025. And the reason that I think that this is the absolute best time to start to work on your goals is because we're kind of, aside from the energy and just the back to school season is we're in this point in the year where it could really go two ways. Like, you could really be like, man, this year has been either really great already or been a doozy. And you're looking at the things that you wanted to accomplish and you can either say, man, you know what, I am just going to, like, I'm just going to chill. I'm just going to see how the holidays wrap up and I will get back on the saddle January 1, 2026, and you'll have your New Year's resolutions and you can start the year then. And if that's the path you want to take, you know what you do, you bo. But you could also take the other path. And the other path is, holy shit, we got four months left of the year. Like, anything is possible. Anything is possible. And I'm going to let all of the decisions and the milestones and the wins and the losses and the lessons give me the best launch pad to end this year so fucking strong. And I want to end the year so strong so that I can start the year stronger. I think it's so easy to just fall into this, like, end of year lull where it's like, yeah, whatever. And then, right, we have the New Year's resolution and yada, yada, yada. But when you're starting the year already feeling behind and without momentum, I don't know about you, but it's really easy to just like struggle with momentum. And especially around the holidays coming out of it, like, let's be real, we're being a little lazy, right? Like, I'm probably living in pajamas and watching a little bit too much tv, hanging out with people. It's the holidays, like, there. It's not. It's not a hustle vibe. It's not like a working vibe. The end of the year, right? Like Back half of December, we'll call it, are the lost weeks. Those two years at the end of the year, they are a dark dungeon. And if you are trying to build your momentum for 2026, just coming out of that, like, that's. That's a hard game to play, y'. All. That is a hard game to play. I know it's going to be so much better for you when you are building the plan now and you've got the momentum heading in to 2026. You've got the game plan. You are already making moves, and it's like the ball that's rolling down a hill, right? You're just going to gain more and more and more and more speed and momentum, and it's just going to get easier to hit the goals. So I want to encourage you to, wherever you're at, whatever this year has looked like for you already, to, to recognize that there is so much magic that can still happen the rest of the year if you choose to do that. If you decide that that is what you want to call in. If you're going to take your life goals, business goals, money goals, health goals, relationship goals, travel goals, like, whatever it is, and decide, you know what, no, I'm actually going to make some shit happen. And this is going to be an incredibly productive and profitable end of the year. And that is what I love about this great lock in energy, is that you get to simply decide. And that is going to be the very first step, if anything, right? It is simply deciding what is going to happen. Once you make a decision, you get to start asking yourself how you get to start building a game plan. So what I want you to do right now is I want you to take a look. Hopefully it's nearby. If not, look at it the next time you see it. I want you to take a good, long, hard look at your vision board. I know you made one. If you didn't make one, they're a blast. You should make one. Maybe we'll do a little vision board party together. Look at your vision board. I want you to see everything that you put up there. And I want you to be so real with yourself right now. What are the things that you have been holding back on? What are the things that you've been scared to prioritize? What are the things that you're just, like, so lost in the sauce. You're like, I don't even know where or when or how I would begin making this goal a reality in the next couple months. Like, I want you to look at it. And then I want you to ask yourself, like, what are you willing to do to make these things come true? What do you want to prioritize? Like, what are the non negotiables for you? You would so much excitement and you had so much determination at the start of the year when you put all those things together. And I want to know where you're at. Is there still a lot of juice left in the tank? Do we need to re energize? Do we need to refocus? Do we need to start building a plan? I love vision boards. Love, love, love them. But I also want to create action around them. And so I want you to look up there and I want you to challenge yourself to figure out how you can actually start to make some moves against the goals that you have called out for yourself and figure out how and where. If you need to pivot, if you need to adjust, like, whatever it is, how can you start to get super serious about what it is that you want to accomplish? And I also want you to take this opportunity to celebrate all of the things that you have already made real this year. What are the things that you have already accomplished? And I want you to utilize those accomplishments as proof that everything else on that board is possible too. Everything else that you are trying to manifest, every other goal that you are trying to work towards is absolutely capable of happening. You just need to decide and you need to build a plan and get moving, sister. I know for me, this is kind of what my lock in looks like it was. It's getting so real about where I'm at with my habits. I'm going to be so honest, you guys. I have been in business mode this summer. I've been traveling a lot and the habits that I know ground me have kind of taken a little bit of a backseat. Like I'm gonna be so real. And I have started to notice it. I've started to notice it in the way that I show up. I've started to notice the almost like fight or flight response that my body is in of just go, go, go. And not necessarily taking the time to slow down, taking the time to reflect. And so what I am doing to lock the fuck in the rest of the year is starting with getting back to basics on some of my habits. Habits are the foundation of what we accomplish. If you look at the life that you're trying to create, it is all about who you need to become and you are what you do every single day. So if you're like, yeah, I'M feeling a little bit off here. I want you to do a habit check. I, for the first time ever, I'm trying a new habit tracker. So I will link that habit tracker. I get absolutely nothing from it, but I'll link it in the, in the, in the show notes for you so you can get one if you want to. But I'm like, okay, I need to get back to like pen to paper and really tracking like what am I trying to accomplish from a daily perspective, a weekly perspective, and a monthly perspective. So I want you to start to figure out what are the those habits that you know, make you feel so motivated and make you feel like, yeah, I'm going to be able to stay on board with what the game plan is for me. I need to figure out how to scroll less on the Internet. Can you relate? I bet you can. Like for me it was getting to the point where it was really impacting my evening routine. And I know that my evening routine really sets me up for a successful morning routine and so starting to carve out like a wind down routine for the evening. And I want to share something interesting that I'm doing with this habit reset. This is like utilizing visualizing neuroscience, right? Of traditionally I'll be like, okay, here are all of the habits that I want to build and then here are all of the things that I do not want to be doing right now. Our brain hates a list of things to not do. I know you probably feel it. Anytime I tell myself I can't do something, I just immensely want to do it so much more. If I'm like, oh, I can't do this right? When I really started to not drink, it was like, okay, you're, you can't drink or you can't, I don't even know. In this example, you can't scroll on Instagram and watch TV until the wee hours of the night before you go to bed. Which, like wee hours you guys. I mean like, listen, I go to bed at like 9:30 every night, but I just don't want to be scrolling on the phone and watching TV leading up to that time. And so instead of telling myself I can't do those things, I am now going to just focus on the things that I want to be doing instead in that place. So instead of saying like, I can't scroll on the Internet all night until I go to bed. I'm not putting that on my habit list. What I am doing is putting, creating a 30 minute wind down routine. So thinking about all the things that you want to do from a habit perspective and then not giving yourself a list of things not to do, instead just figuring out what you want to do instead. Right. So that's really helping figure out like how to recreate that habit loop that you are in. And so that's something that's working really well for me. Well, I guess we'll see how it goes. I'm going to say it's going to work really well. The 30 minute wind down routine, it's working out so far. So figuring out what those daily habits are and not going crazy. Right. We never want to approach something like this as like in all or nothing mentality and we want to give ourselves grace. It takes time to break old habits, it takes time to build new habits. But just figuring out what's the foundation of the things that you want to focus on. If we're talking specifically about money habits, right. We want to start to understand like what's the core of the objective that you are going to be working towards. I want you to go to that vision board. I want you to look at what you wanted to accomplish from a financial perspective this year. I want you to start to get really clear around what are the habits that are going to help you support that goal. So if you have a savings goal, if you have a debt payoff goal, if you have an investment goal, if you have a goal to leave your corporate job in the next six to 12 months, like whatever your goal is, I want you to pick one that's going to be the most impactful that you are going to be able to look back on at the end of this year and kickstarting 2026 and being like, hell yeah, I did that. I really freaking did that. I want you to figure out what are the daily things that you need to be doing in order to be able to that a reality. So let's talk about debt payoff. If you are trying to figure out how to pay off debt between now and the end of the year, I want you to first figure out what debt is it that you are going to prioritize. I want you to put it into like a debt prioritization situation where we're figuring out, you know, are you going to be starting with the highest interest debt, the lowest balance debt and pick something to attack. Right. It's so hard, especially if we're talking about debt. Like I get it, yeah, I know you want it all gone, but like let's pick something to really focus on tackling over the next couple of months and Start to figure out, okay, do you also need to stop adding to that debt? Like, are we still spending where the debt is incurring? Because that is going to be, you know, a daily habit around not spending on certain things or getting more particular about the things that you are spending money on, or figuring out where you can start to reallocate some of the money, Maybe you need to start to look at lowering some of your expenses. So every day you're going to figure out what is something that I can actually do to lower this. Or on the flip side, if we need to focus on increasing your income, right, we can only lower our expenses so much, but the sky's the limit on the income. So do you need to work on negotiating a raise for 2026? Do you need to start to look around for some maybe other jobs or start a side hustle? Like, what are the things that are going to move the needle for you on that debt payoff number? And then figure out what are the daily habits that you need to do to start to move in that direction so that you can actually see a dent in that debt? Right? I think picking a number that you want to tackle, breaking it down by a monthly or a weekly or a daily goal so that you can understand what's happening. It's so easy for things to just get lost in the sauce, right? We really got to get micro with these goals so that we can really move the needle. Same thing goes for savings. If you have a goal, like, what are you saving for? What is that actually going to cost? I feel like when it comes to savings, people are just like, like, I don't know, I want to save more money. And it's like, great, I love that, but we got it. Like, for what? And why are you working on your future fund? Are you working on saving for a down payment for a house? Are you working on being able to set yourself up to be able to travel in 2026 where you have the money set aside and you're not paying for it with credit cards? You're not feeling guilty about, should I be here or should I not? Because you've built the plan. And then you can start to look at, okay, approximately how much is that going to cost? How much do I need to be putting away from each paycheck? Maybe you're like, oh, there's not enough there for me to hit my savings goals. Cool, same. Back to the conversation. What are we doing to lower our expenses, increase our income, bring more money in? If we're looking at an investment goal. Like, what is a realistic number that you would want to get to by the end of the year? Do you have the understanding of what accounts you're going to put the investments in and what you're going to invest in there? And how much from a dollar perspective do you want to be putting in? And can you set up automatic contributions? Like, there's all, there's all of these little things that we could go. We could go for days in the depth here. But I want you to challenge yourself to pick one goal that is going to move the needle most for you. I want you to get nitty gritty with it and start to build out a plan and start to hold yourself accountable to those daily little actions so that you can kick off the new year with so much momentum where you're not feeling behind, you're feeling like, nope, I've already. I've already got the plan. I'm already making moves. And also with this plan, you could start to figure out what's working, what's not working, and figure out how to pivot and where to go from here. I also mentioned, like, leaving corporate if you know you want to leave your job, whether that's a normal 9 to 5 or that's a corporate 9 to 5, whether that's a side job, like, whatever it is, right? If you know you want to be leaving sometime in 2026, I'm telling you, the best time to start to figure that plan out is now. You want to start to put things in place. It's going to take a while to, you know, do you want to pay off your debt, head in that savings goal? Do you want to figure out what that next step looks like for you? Like, start to plant the seeds now so that by this time next year you're in such a better spot. Maybe you already left this time next year because of all the work that you've put in. Maybe you're a lot closer to figuring out what that's going to look like for you. But just thinking that you can go from A to Z and 0 to 100, it just puts a lot of pressure on yourself. And so being able to really look at your finances now and have a money plan for it. Also, guys, we are heading into, like, holiday season and Black Friday Friday and Cyber Monday and White Elephants and you name it. So getting intentional about your finances right now, because if you don't plant the seeds, if you don't get serious about those goals before we head into those months, I'm gonna tell you what Usually happens. Usually there's a lot of overspending that happens. Usually there's a lot of, like, annoyance around, like, oh, having to get gifts for all these people, being unprepared, how expensive it is, Especially going into the holidays if you are. Don't have access to. To PTO and you're taking time away that is unpaid and you have less money coming in. And now you're feeling this pressure to buy all these gifts or go on these trips or treat people for the holidays or whatever it is that that frustration or that lack of a plan just compounds over that time. And now we're starting 2026 even more stressed out. So get ahead of it now. Build a plan for how you're going to shop for the holidays and how much you actually want to allocate towards that. And make sure that you're prioritizing your finance goals in a way where you. Right, you got to put your own oxy mask on first. Make sure that your goals are being taken care of and still carving out money for the holidays. Trips, travels, all of that stuff. So I got. My God, I'm just thinking about more and more. The list could go on. September is the time, y'. All. It really is the time to get serious. And you also, on that note, don't want to end up with just, like, exuberant amount of money spent or credit cards charged or whatever just to, like, dig yourself deeper. So getting serious about it now before we head into the end of the year and the holidays is going to be huge. Like, I want you to think about. Let's do a little exercise. Actually, I want you to think about if you were at the beginning of 2026. I want you to think about how you would feel if you took these next four months super seriously or if you kind of just coasted. Like, think about really how that future version of yourself is going to feel. I want you to think about getting to the end of this year and being either really frustrated with yourself or really proud of yourself for the steps that you took and then the momentum that that can create heading in to the new year. I think that there are so many things that I could talk about here, but one thing that I really want to hone in on is that a lot of people that I end up working with and a lot of just women that I talk to, there's this pattern of just like, like constantly waiting for the right time, especially when we talk about our finances, waiting for the right time to get serious about getting out of debt. To start saving, to invest, to learn how to build wealth. Like, there's always going to be a. Well, now's not the right time because one. Well, I don't know. We have all the holidays coming up. I ha. I want to wait until I get a new pay increase. I want to wait until like the list goes on, right. Of just waiting and waiting. And I can just confidently say that there is no better time to prioritize the finances than the moment that you're in right now. When you're feeling that call, when you're feeling that frustration, when you're feeling that overwhelm, when you're just. You just know that you are meant for more than whatever the current financial reality is. And you want to make that up level. That is the time to make the leap. The longer that you wait between that knowing and that feeling and making the jump, like. Like you're waiting for clarity. And it doesn't come until you start to make moves. There's like. That's like, probably the best thing I can really sum this up to is that starting to take action on these things is going to give you more clarity. Money is one of those topics where it just. It can feel overwhelming. And it's really easy to be like, I don't know, I mean, I'm getting by. Like, it's not that big of a deal. Let's be real. You know, you want to do something different with your finances. Now is the time to take it seriously. And the sooner that you start to create that momentum, the more clarity you're going to get on what's next. There's always going to be something. Confidently can say that there's always going to be something. It's almost like when people are talking about having a baby and people's advice is like, well, there's never really a good time. You'll figure it out as you go. I feel like that probably applies to a lot of things, but like, also your money. There is never going to be a perfect time to start to get serious about some of this stuff. The perfect time is literally right now because you're feeling the call to do it. And the longer that you wait, the longer that you kick the can down the road. When we are talking about changing your finances and building wealth, the most important component that you have is time. The more that you waste it by not actually making momentum and moving towards your goals more, you're going to kick yourself. Because I promise, once you actually start to put these systems in place and start to see things change 10 out of 10 times. People say, man, I wish I would have started to work on this sooner. Like, it's not. Some people are glad they started working on it. Some people were like, oh, it could have waited. No, 10 out of 10, 100 hit ratio, you guys. People wishing that they would have just started sooner because one. The other thing that happens, and I've talked about this before, the longer that you put off something like this, where traditionally, like, I get it, money's not that fun, but with me it is. I promise it's a good time. Money is one of those things that's not that fun. It can be overwhelming, can feel intimidating. The longer that you give that the power, the harder it is to tackle. It's kind of like the monster under the bed. The more that you believe it, like, it kind of just grows and it gets scarier. And now it's got three heads and talons and it's going to climb out and it's going to get the dangling foot that's hanging off the side of my bed. The more pressure we put on it, the more like, oh, I'm not ready to tackle that. I'm not ready to work on that. Or like, kicking the can down. Like, it just. It makes it scarier. It makes it more intimidating than it needs to be. You're like, oh, then I'm finally going to feel so prepared to handle it. Like, no, but you are prepared right now. I promise you can handle it right now just simply by making the decision to do it. Kind of just really went off on a tangent there. But I really hope that this helps you figure out what it is that you want to focus on between now and the end of the year and gives you the encouragement and gives you the motivation to start now and not wait until January 2026. Because I'm telling you, future you is just going to be so proud of the fact that you decided to get serious about it. So look at that vision board and ask yourself what it is that you want to lock in on between now and the end of the year. Build out a little plan so that you can start to figure out what it is that you are going to hold yourself accountable to. Order this habit tracker with me, like, let's go hard on this. Let's stick to these goals that we're trying to work towards and start to really step into the version of ourselves that can easily accomplish these things. And if you're sitting here like, okay, Madison, this sounds great, but also, like, what the. I literally don't even know where to start. DM me, I would love to help you put a plan together. I do have obviously a one on one coaching offer where we could completely transform your finances over the next six months and go through all of this and then some. There's so many things, things that we could work on together. But even if you're like, I'm not sure if one on one coaching is for me, I'm not sure if it's something that I, you know, can invest in right now, if it makes sense from a finance perspective, whatever. Right? Like listen, we're going to talk through all of that, but just DM me if you're like, I'm feeling a little bit lost in the sauce and even if it's not official coaching together, then let me. I will figure out how I can help you and get you pointed in the right direction. I feel so passionately about just helping you make forward momentum with with your money. If you are listening to this though, and you were like, okay, you have talked deeply to my soul and I am ready to jump, definitely slide in my DMs. There's also going to be a link in the show notes for applying for one on one coaching. But again, if you just have questions and you want to shoot me a DM and we can just yap about what it is, what your goals are, what you're working towards, I do have coaching spots that are open and again, this is like my favorite time to start kicking things off with people because we just get to have the forward momentum that through the holidays and not start your New Year's plan in the New Year's. Like we're already going to have a game plan. You're already going to have the systems in place. You're going to have clarity on what it is that you want to accomplish and where you are going. So if you want to snag one of the one on one spots and get going on your finances, let me know how I can help you apply in the show notes. Shoot me a dm, whatever it is. But either way, I'm wishing you an incredibly successful locked in 2025 season and I will see you all on the next episode.