In a recent blog, I wrote about discipline as one of the foundations to enabling us to do what we need to do in the moment it is needed. For some, though, discipline might bring the connotation of rigidity and lack of adaptability. I was part of the facilitation team for a leadership training last week in which we had many conversations about discipline, seeking it, and its necessity. Do you think discipline limits creativity? What about freedom? Is discipline really needed? I find it quite telling what Marie-Agnes Gillot of the Paris Opera Ballet says in this video from NOWNESS: “One can compare great artists to thoroughbreds. They need to be part of a stable to exist. You can’t leave people who have masses of emotion and sensitivity to fend for themselves. Fortunately, with ballet, we are in a stable every morning. There’s an iron discipline which allows my personality to be totally free because that discipline is based on solid foundations. Discipline is the cornerstone of freedom, not the opposite.”