Could you help me on this?

The intellect cannot command the emotions, but it can channel currently existing emotional energy. If, for example, the emotions want X, the intellect might talk them into wanting to do Y by pointing out that "doing it" will get them X.

In the second sentence, what does "doing it" refer to? It seems clear to me that "it" refers to Y. But does "doing it" refer to "wanting to do Y" or just "doing Y"?

Thank you in advance.