Air pollution how-to list

Air pollution is so harmful and unpleasant. 

Technology can fix most of it, if you put your heart into it.

1. Get yourself the smartphone app/widget which can automatically show the pollution levels on your screen continuously. 

2. You can get a pm2.5 meter for as cheap as $15. Get yourself one. Seeing the current values is helpful, and motivating. Also helpful when looking for shops with good air quality. 

3. Get yourself an air purifier. Lots on the market. Get the bigger ones. Especially if your area is seriously polluted. If the pollution is bad, you need a bigger machine or 2 3 machines. 

4. If you are sensitive to noise, your solution might be to get a bigger machine/s and put it on low intensity. Because the max power modes are usually quite noisy. 

5. You can also install a HEPA filter inside your air conditioner. Most modern air conditioners can have it installed.

This will work without any extra machine. But will not be enough when the pollution is high. 

Even so, the little help might reduce the time you put the machine on max power

6. Seal your home. 

Once you put on the air purifier. Your home keeps getting polluted from every tiny crack and space in your windows, around the door etc. 

How to seal:
Last year, I used tape over most of my windows, sealing all sides openings and corners. This fast trick reduced incoming dirty air massively, and reduced the need for using the purifiers. 

I gave up on some of my windows' ability to open for the pollution season. 

For doors, you can get a sealing tape, some forms of which will block much of the air entry around the door. But I think that getting a new door for this might be better. 

Amazon search example for door seal tape

Better still, you might want to renovate/change your windows and doors to get them to be hermetically sealed. You will need to make sure to get the proper windows maker. Not all of them will understand the concept perfectly, and not all are able to source the appropriate materials / execute it perfectly. Be mindful on this. 

7. Car HEPA filtering. 

Newer cars have hepa filtering, either by default, or can have it fitted inside their air-condition system quite easily. 

There are also small mobile air filters for cars which you can simply put in your car and connect to the car electricity.

8. use coffee shops and restaurants that have air purifiers. There are also workspaces that have air purifiers. 

Make sure to actually check that the air there is clean with the pollution meter. Many shops put some machines in, but the air stays polluter, too few/weak machines. Machines on low power, and so on. 

9. Face Masks. N95 masks protect you from most of the pollution if worn tightly and properly. its not too comfortable. But you can get used to it. And its worth the pain. 

try various types to find the best fit to your face and comfort. worth the effort

10. Xiaomi warning. And solution

Xiaomi air purifiers are a scam. The machines are good. But they are programmed to always work on low power. You cannot make it work on high power. It will automatically change to "automatic mode" which in fact means silent mode, unless you are in the middle of a forest fire. 

You need to hack the machines to get max power working. 

you install their "home" app on your phone, connect the purifier to the app, then create 48 automation macros in the app so that every 30 minutes on the clock it will force the evil machine to go to "favourite" power. 

Self employment's unique type of effort

 Let's say that a year of working as a cashier is easier than one day of being self-employed. 

Not the type of habituated self-employment. This is not always difficult. 

But in many cases, there is a special type of difficulty that is unique to being self-employed. And it is massive. 

Moving things is harder than working. 

A categorically different type of effort. 

Working as a cashier is enormously easy on the mental pushing side. 

You even do not need to decide to shave or put on makeup. This has already been decided for you in the company instructions. 

You do not need to decide on when to wake up. It is known and decided.

You need to robotically do it. Which might count as effort. But that's it.

when Self employed. you must push unknown things. You must initiate. You must research. You must solve problems. You must think even about where to search and how. 

Everything needs active initiative. 

You need to search for ideas. But you do not know about which side of your "plans". You do not know where and how to search. And when you start searching, you sometimes get confused and frustrated in clogged up alleys. 

This means you need lots of active pushing. Time and again. 

This is the main challenge of being self-employed.

Is being self-employed good?

A very complicated question. It depends on skills, opportunities, and personal tastes. 

But even if self-employment is vastly better. can you do it?

This effort that it takes is practically unrealistic for most of us. No matter how much better self-employment would have been.