How to really screw with someone's head

One of my favorite all-time saints is Saint Ignatius of Loyola (the founder of the Jesuits).  This guy was a total stud; a military guy who also "got" the court scene, chivalry, honor, etc.  He was really a man's man.
But so were a lot of other guys (and are today). Why, hundreds of years later, are we still talking about him?
The answer is simple, yet difficult: Ignatius decided to take one of his weaknesses, his pride, and turn it into a strength.
While convalescing from a battle wound (he received the wound as one of the last defenders of the castle against the French - his enemies were so impressed with his valor, that they treated him with honor and sent him to recover at his home), he was bored and had nothing to do.  He grabbed the only two books in the household ("whaaa....?  only two books?"  hey, books were considered to be cutting edge as barely anyone even read at that time) and tried to distract himself.
The two books?
The Bible and the lives of the saints.

So where does his pride come into play?  As he read a story about St. Francis of Assisi, he would tell himself "Ha, he was good, but I could do better,"; St. Benedict?  Oh yes, a holy man, but if Ignatius had been around, well, that's another story as to how things might have turned out.

The long and short of it was that over time, Ignatius had a conversion experience.  He realized that he wanted to be a saint and he was willing to do whatever it took to become one.  One of the anecdotes that is recounted is that a dialogue between Christ and Ignatius went something like this:

Christ (C): Ignatius: Will you do something for me?
Ignatius (I): Anything, Lord.
C: It's so disappointing when  people tell me no or place conditions on their yes's.  I really appreciate your unconditional yes!
I: Well, actually, I do have one condition...
C: Oh.  Okay, I understand - what is it?
I: I want what You ask me to do to be the hardest and most difficult thing that no one wants to do.
C: I love you, man!
Okay, I may have taken a little poetic license, but you get the idea.

Full circle time: what about the title of this blog posting?  I have been spending time doing work with Habitat for Humanity; it's really interesting to see who shows up at these builds and why.  Many times, the Build Leader will ask for volunteers to do such and such task - it's not infrequent to see people turn their noses up at the requests until they find what is their thing.
Channeling my hero, I like to go up to these Build Leaders and ask them if I can help and do whatever no one wants to do.  I am also rolling this concept out in my consultancy when I talk to my customers.
Try it - you'll get a real kick; it really messes with people's assumptions.

I plan on trying the approach out in the hardest and most challenging milieu: home.