Some weeks are harder than others to get through. On those particularly rough weeks, you need a jump start to get you moving. However, sometimes motivation can be hard to find when you know you have hours of work to do (or 51 essays to write defending your country's constitution) and you are warm and cozy in your bed. When that happens, I have found that the best motivational push comes from listening to pump up music. But not your average pop-feel-good pump up music…no…I listen to pump up songs from musicals.

“Musicals?” you ask. Yes. Musicals. Somehow these songs always manage to lift my mood and prepare me to face whatever the day is going to throw at me: they help me “seize the day”. After listening to them I feel more determined, stronger, “smarter and bolder,” than ever. Here is my list of 15 songs from various musicals that are guaranteed to make you feel like “there’s no fight you cannot win.” Some of them are motivational, and some of them just fun, but they all manage to get the job done and make you feel “so much better than before”. So if you need a shove to get you going this week, take a look at these.

*Just so you know: Some of these songs have a little bit of language or mature topics. I have put a link to all the songs on YouTube, so just be warned some of the songs could potentially be PG-13*

1. Defying Gravity

“I’m through accepting limits
Cause someone says they’re so
Some things I cannot change
But till I try I’ll never know"

2. No Way

“There's no way
I'm gonna take another option
No way I'm gonna settle with a loss!
No way I'm gonna sit around and watch
There's no, no way”

3. I Have Confidence

“With each step I am more certain,
Everything will turn out fine.
I have confidence,
The world can all be mine!”

4. Chip On My Shoulder

“No more whining or blaming
I am reclaiming my pride”

5. Seize The Day

“Raise up the torch and light the way
Proud and defiant
We'll slay the giant
Let us seize the day"

6. Take Me Or Leave Me

“Take me for what I am
Who I was meant to be
And if you give a damn
Take me baby
Or leave me”

7. You’re The Top

“You're the top, you're the Collisseum
You're the top, you're the Louvre Museum
You're the melody from a symphony by Strauss
You're a Bendel bonnet, a Shakespeare sonnet, you're Mickey Mouse”

8. Pulled

“Puppy dogs with drooping faces
Unicorns with dancing mice
Sunrise in wide open spaces
Disney World, I’ll go there twice!”

9. Bottom’s Gonna Be On Top

“I can see it now
I’m the cat’s meow
It’s a hit. Pow!
Its gonna be great
Gonna be great”

10. Moving Too Fast

“Whatever I do
I barrel on through
And I don't complain
No matter what I try
I'm flying full speed ahead”

11. So Much Better

“I've gone on to better things
Better jobs or bigger rings
I don't have the time to cry
I'm too busy loving my name up on that list”

12. Watch What Happens

“Just look around at the world we're inheriting
and think of the one we'll create.
Their mistake is they got old, that is not a mistake we'll be making.
No sir, we'll stay young forever!”

13. Don’t Rain On My Parade

“I simply gotta march
My heart's a drummer
Don't bring around a cloud
To rain on my parade!”

Bonus: A video from Miscast of Jeremy Jordan (see #10) singing Don't Rain On My Parade!

14. Freak Flag

“What makes us special makes us strong”

15. Non Stop

“I practiced the law, I practic’ly perfected it
I’ve seen injustice in the world and I’ve corrected it
Now for a strong central democracy
If not, then I’ll be Socrates
Throwing verbal rocks at these mediocrities”