What’s Your Power Song?

?You?ve been hit by, you?ve been struck by a Smooth Criminal.?

There I was, sitting in my car waiting to go in for a job interview. I was dressed to the nines (or so I thought), holding on to my professional portfolio, and wondering how the hell things were going to go down. I needed a confidence boost, but didn?t have a rum and coke handy. Suddenly, I realized what I had to do?.and popped Michael Jackson?s ?Bad? album into my CD player. Skipping ahead to my favorite song, ?Smooth Criminal,? I was instantly pumped up.

You might be asking, ?What does a Michael Jackson song from 1987 about some vague criminal and a girl named Annie have to do with confidence?? As you may already know, I?m a big MJ fan. I even wrote anarticleabout my admiration for him and his confidence level a couple months ago.

Sitting there in my car, I tried to think of someone who just exuded confidence, who put themselves out there and just knocked ?em dead again and again. ?Smooth Criminal,? struck me as such a badass song and good representation of Jackson?s ultraconfident attitude. Playing the song made me think about my own confidence level. It made me realize that I could be as confident and self-assured as I wanted to be; all I had to do was be that person, be that smooth criminal.

An ultimate power song

Music can have a huge impact on our emotions. How many times have you listened to a song and been reminded of a moment from your youth? How many times has a song made you bang your head or cry your eyes out? Music, it seems, can also be a great confidence-booster.

You?ve heard of power animals, right? Athletes often choose an animal that best represents the qualities they strive for, such as strength or speed. Power songs offer the same type of confidence-boosting potential.

Think of a song that makes you feel awesome. It can be something super poppy, something super intense, or anything in-between. So long as it?s something that pumps you up when you?re listening to it, you?ve got a power song on your hands. The next time you?ve got to face some sort of challenge, be it a job interview or a big game, play your power song and go get ?em.

Does Journey?s ?Don?t Stop Believin?? make you want to take on the world? Does Jay-Z?s ?Big Pimpin?? make like you feel like the man? Cheesy rock or smooth rap, your power song can give you that boost of confidence you need to get the job done. Heck, if the theme song from ?Perfect Strangers? gets you going, then so be it.

I don?t have any big, stressful events coming up, but when I do I?ll be sure to play ?Smooth Criminal? beforehand. I may not have the singing or dancing talents of Michael Jackson, but I can co-opt his song for my own bidding.