As a therapist, Joyce Marter noticed an extraordinary trend: as her clients improved their mental health, they leveled up in other areas of their lives. They received raises, they got promotions, and some even started their own business. In The Financial Mindset Fix, Joyce shares the culmination of her life’s work as the go-to expert on the “Psychology of Success”—a proven method to help you improve your financial well-being by focusing on your psychological and relational issues around money. Read an excerpt from The Financial Mindset Fix below.
When I met with Tim, the CPA, that first time, I thought he was going to tell me to file for business bankruptcy. Imagine my surprise when he told me that the value of the business was at a healthy seven-figure amount. This was just after my former partner abandoned the business because we were only looking at the debt and what we were lacking, not the whole picture.
What gifts, resources, and assets are you not seeing because you are looking through a negative lens—what golden bench are you sitting on without realizing it? Think of the show Antiques Roadshow, where people discover trinkets that are sometimes treasures worth big cash. Take a deeper inventory of your strengths, resources, ideas, and talents. Identify overlooked treasures. I’ve had countless clients sitting on a nearly finished book they have written and shown to nobody, a business idea they have yet to pursue, a unique skill they haven’t marketed to others, or an amazing talent they have yet to put out in the world. They want more in life, yet fear is blocking their flow of abundance.
My absolute favorite thing about being a therapist is mirroring people’s strengths and all that is amazing, special, and beautiful about them. These are the seeds of abundance. They need to be seen, valued, and nurtured. By working through The Financial Mindset Fix program, you are watering your seeds and welcoming in the light so you can branch out and blossom into the fullest and most magnificent expression of yourself. Achieving abundance allows you to spread more seeds of prosperity that will grow into a vast orchard, providing abundance for generations to come.
Now it’s time to apply abundance to your daily life. The Abundance Wheel brings together all the skills you learned in this chapter and measures where abundance shows up most for you. To get an idea of how your wheel might look, see The Abundance Wheel Example.
This wheel was filled out by someone who wasn’t very Open to Possibilities for herself, so she scored low in that area; but she scored high when it came to Happiness for Others. The “dents” on the wheel represent areas where she scored lower. This program provides the opportunity to begin working on these dents, or areas of deficit, today. With significant areas of deficiency, your wheel may look more like a “constellation” than a circle, and that’s okay! Revisit this exercise as you work through The Financial Mindset Fix program.
Where you are today is a starting point. Because the chapters are interrelated, as you work through the program, you will continue to make progress in the area of abundance. To get a base reading on where abundance shows up in your life currently, complete The Abundance Wheel.
Chart your responses on The Abundance Wheel. Let’s start at the top: Are you Poor, Prosperous, or somewhere in between when it comes to Self-Worth? Put a dot on the spoke next to the number that corresponds with your answer. Now continue going around the wheel, and after scoring yourself on every spoke, connect the dots to create a circle. Don’t worry about your scores. Just be honest.
To see where you are at when it comes to abundance, answer the following questions in your journal:
Where are the three biggest “dents” in your wheel?
What do you see as the biggest obstacles to achieving a Prosperous rating in these three areas?
Any ideas on how you can transcend those limitations?
Consider discussing your results with a friend or trusted confidant. Remember, this is deep work and it is normal to have ups and downs. Remember to date your wheel so you can track your progress over time. Keep going!
Copyright © 2026 by Joyce Marter, LCPC
Joyce Marter, LCPC, is a psychotherapist, successful entrepreneur, adjunct faculty at Northwestern University, national speaker, and thought leader in mental health. She is the founder of Urban Balance, a nationwide counseling practice, and provides trainings on mental health and success for Fortune 500 companies. She has written for HuffPost, Spirituality & Health, and The Good Men Project, among others. She has been featured in countless media outlets, including CNN, MTV, and the Wall Street Journal. For more, see joyce-marter.com.
Photo Credit: Amy Boyle
