What Makes You Feel Powerful

This question - What Makes You Feel Powerful? - is blatently stolen from a friend's blog. But as an entrepreneur who has yet to bring home an actual paycheck - or, in this economy, for anyone who is underemployed or unemployed, it's a pretty important question to ask yourself. When I first asked myself this question I was shocked that I didn't have an answer. Truth be told, as a woman without a child a lot of one's worth is tied up in paychecks. I differentiate "without a child" because mom's without a doubt have the world's toughest job and it seems like many of them - from what I see from my friends - find a new level of power in navigating the many many challenges parenthood throws at them.

But if you don't have kids and can't be classified as 'stay-at-home mom' (which should more aptly be called 'work-at-home mom') then how do you measure yourself when you don't bring home a paycheck. Like I said, I've been mulling over this for several days now because, right or wrong, our culture is one that is pretty predicated on measuring people by what it is they do for a living. What's the first question we often ask of someone new after we're introduced to them - "What do you do for a living?"

So I've been thinking of what makes me powerful despite my lack of paycheck and this is what I've come up with so far. I'll also apologize in advance for what may seem like some pretty strong gender roles below that would make Gloria Steinem hate me. Below is the my list thus far. What's on yours?

1. Getting QuickBooks up to date. Sadly this only happens about 4x a year so it's not a regular powerful feeling.
2. Getting my to-do list done. Truthfully I never get the entire to-do list done because I always put too much stuff on it but if I can knock off a good chunk on any given day I do feel pretty powerful.
3. Getting the house cleaned, organized, laundry done, and dinner ready. While this sounds horribly anti-feminist it really has more to do with the fact that since I work from home most of the time I have more flexibility to get these things done. It means less chores to do on the weekend and more time for fun stuff my better half and I can do together.
4. Getting all the house errands run on any particular day. Again, not meant to be anti-feminist but more because it helps me feel like I add value to my partnership in lieu of a paycheck.
5. Coming up with new product or marketing ideas that are actually feasible and - more importantly - good ideas!
6. Working on and completing projects for the nonprofit I'm on the board of. Makes me feel like I'm helping out something greater then just my immediate circle of influence. Not to mention that it means I have to schedule meetings, meet deadlines, etc and it helps provide struture to my days during the slow periods.
7. Making house renovations - or overseeing the contractors for the bigger jobs. I like making smart improvements to our house as I feel it helps add value - both to our immediate lives and the value of the house.
8. Showing up at a race knowing that I'm well prepared to do my best.