The life we sustain by our choices are our own. This is nowhere truer than in a capitalist democracy where our choices drive the market and our civil society through our vote and subsequent participation in the democratic process. A functional democracy that intends to be sustainable cannot be treated as a spectator sport by the citizens. It is very much a contact sport that requires educated and fact based active participation if it is to benefit the voting citizens. At the core of that participatory democracy is an empowered citizen population that understand their own self-interest. Each persona’s self-interest is not one-dimensional because it needs to address the interest of a person in the four functional roles, namely •Worker •Consumer •Investor •Citizen If we want high pay as workers, we need to understand that we cannot have all our goods and services free or cheap. Let's spend an hour understanding and exploring Self-Interest to shape our choices just right!