As much as play and experiment helps foster growth and not to take away from the point of the article, let's not forget the value of discipline and conformity i

As much as play and experiment helps foster growth and not to take away from the point of the article, let's not forget the value of discipline and conformity in developing creative expression and, ultimately, freedom. The most creative pianist played countless scales, likely more than less creative ones, despite scales being mechanical. Same with dancers and footwork, athletes with sprints, and so on. I am influenced by Martha Graham -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Graham http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Graham -- often called the Picasso of dance, who said about discipline, conformity, and freedom: The dancer is realistic. His craft teaches him to be. Either the foot is pointed or it is not. No amount of dreaming will point it for you. This requires discipline, not drill, not something imposed from without, but discipline imposed by you yourself upon yourself. … Your goal is freedom. But freedom may only be achieved through discipline. In the studio you learn to conform, to submit yourself to the demands of your craft, so that you may finally be free. Few people matched her creative output and development. I wrote more about this topic since it's important to me -- http://joshuaspodek.com/master-speaks-creative-expression http://joshuaspodek.com/master-speaks-creative-expression and http://joshuaspodek.com/model-foundation-personal-freedom http://joshuaspodek.com/model-foundation-personal-freedom (Edit: to jahaja's question "Do I misunderstand you when I feel that you are equating creativeness with success?", I don't know a perfect definition of creativity, but as I use it, I include some sense of problems solving. Creating something useless doesn't feel "creative" to me, so in the sense of solving a problem, as I use the term, creativity has some element of success.)