Most people think leadership is all about influencing others. It’s not.
It starts with mastering yourself; your emotions, your reactions, your state of mind. If you lose control when things don’t go your way, you’re not leading; your emotions are leading you.
True discipline is not about being strict. It’s about being aware enough to pause, reflect, and act instead of react. Because if you can’t lead yourself, you can’t lead anyone else.
Discipulus — The Origin of Discipline
Because I see too often that people misunderstand discipline.
The word discipline comes from the Latin discipulus, meaning learner or student.
Its origin reminds us that discipline was never meant to be about punishment or control, but about learning, especially the kind of learning that shapes character.
To the ancients, discipline was the art of training the mind and spirit. It was how the Stoics practiced mastery over impulse, emotion, and desire, not to suppress them, but to understand them.
Marcus Aurelius wrote not about ruling others, but about ruling himself.
That was his daily discipline, his lifelong study. That’s truly remarkable!
So when we speak of discipline today, remember:
It’s not obedience to rules. It’s an apprenticeship to wisdom.
It’s becoming the learner of yourself, the disciple of your own mind.
That is where leadership begins.
—Adrian
