Page 97 - The Power to Change Anything

86 INFLUENCER

waving her arms and barking out Terri’s amazing accomplish-
ment. And Terri made the mistake of listening to what Silbert
said—just for a second. Then came the wave of applause. Terri
looked around the room and caught the eyes of a few of her
crew members. Then she looked quickly back down at the
floor. Her legs felt weak when she walked back to her chair.
“I’m not sure what that is,” she mumbled to herself. “I’m
probably just hungry.” She ate a candy bar.
Now as Terri rushes to the restaurant, she looks down
again, only this time at her legs. They’re moving so fast it’s as
if they have a mind of their own. And then she lifts her hand
to her cheek and feels something wet. “I don’t do this. What
the hell is this?” Terri is crying.

MAKE PAIN PLEASURABLE

So, what has happened to Terri? Is she actually enjoying work
that she once despised? It’s almost as if she enjoys accomplish-
ing something. She’s found pleasure in her work. Better still, she’s
learned to care about something. In Terri’s own words, “After
thinking about it all afternoon, I finally realized, I was crying
because I cared. I cared that I got the disc to Lionel. I cared.”
If that’s true, if Terri has found a way to enjoy something
that she had previously disliked, what might your average per-
son extract from this? For example, what mysterious trick might
you pull in order to help your son want to do his chores? Could
this same magic potion make a team enjoy the work involved
in reducing errors to below 3.4 per million? And can you use
Terri’s mystical elixir to make eating mini carrots as enjoyable
as wolfing down a slice of chocolate cream pie?
Actually, people do learn ways to take pleasure from almost
any activity, even if an activity isn’t inherently satisfying.
Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck makes this point rather bluntly:

Just because a desire or behavior is natural, does not
mean it is . . . unchangeable. . . . It is also natural . . .