Glossary of the CALM method

The method§

CALM

Four questions to a task: Change · Area · Level · Mode. The answers are the task's coordinates; from the coordinates the method assembles the day and the week. Created by Vasily Chernogorov (Василий Черногоров). Method overview →

Two layers

The method and the assistant. The method works on paper: principles, CALM and the marking rules, the day algorithm, safeguards, Closing, the week — the test is "can a human execute this by hand?" The assistant adds marking by a nod, an explanation of every choice, timers, signals and analytics, Charge, personal rules. The method is what and why; the assistant is what makes it free of effort. Russian original: Два слоя. Method overview →

Personal rules

A glass box on top of the public mechanics: the assistant notices a pattern in your corrections, shows it to you, you approve it — and the rule enters a list that is visible in full and editable by you. Every decision cites a rule, a base one or one of yours. Russian original: Персональные правила. Method overview →

The four axes§

Change (C)

First axis: does the task move you forward or hold position? Values — Grow · Stay. The axis is named after the Red Queen's race: it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. Chapter 1 →

Area (A)

Second axis: work or life? Values — Work · Life. The label outranks the project: a personal task stays Life even inside a work project. This axis does not affect the day selection — it is there for the truth. Chapter 1 →

Level (L)

Third axis: what happens if you do not do it? Values — Key · Important · Regular. The load-bearing beam of selection: it sets the row of the day matrix. Chapter 1 →

Mode (M)

Fourth axis: whose next move is it? Values — Do · Delegated · Waiting. The whole difference in one word: is there a lever. Chapter 1 →

Axis values§

Grow

A value of Change: the task leaves behind something that keeps working on its own — a skill, a system, a product, health, a relationship. Chapter 1 →

Stay

A value of Change: the task holds position — bills, admin, obligations, household. The default of the Change axis. Chapter 1 →

Work

A value of Area: the work zone of life. Chapter 1 →

Life

A value of Area: the personal zone of life. A task stays Life even when it sits inside a work project. Chapter 1 →

Key

A value of Level: a door slams shut — the deal falls through, the deadline burns, the client leaves. Assigned only together with the answer to "what exactly burns?"; the budget is no more than 10 at a time. Chapter 1 →

Important

A value of Level: the result will visibly suffer. Chapter 1 →

Regular

A value of Level: nothing dramatic, it simply needs doing. The default: a task is born Regular. Chapter 1 →

Do

A value of Mode: my move. Only Do tasks are candidates for the Day Focus and the Bonus. The default of the Mode axis. Chapter 2 →

Delegated

A value of Mode: my person's move — someone I can hold to account. Lives in the control block, not in the day. Chapter 2 →

Waiting

A value of Mode: an outside party's move — all I can do is remind. Sleeps under a staleness timer. Chapter 2 →

Marking§

Coordinates

The four CALM answers a task carries. Selection is a function of the marking, not of an opinion: the same list gives the same day to anyone — even on paper. Russian original: Координаты. Chapter 1 →

Marking

Assigning the four coordinates to a task. Marking is a series of nods, not philosophy: defaults plus the three-second rule, and a mistake is cheap to fix tomorrow. Russian original: Разметка. Chapter 1 →

Portfolio

All of a person's marked tasks, as opposed to a list for today. A marked portfolio gives you both the right choice and an honest picture of where your life is actually going. Russian original: Портфель. Method overview →

Defaults

Stay · Regular · Do — the answers a task gets when you do not stop to think. Russian original: Дефолты. Chapter 1 →

The three-second rule

Stuck for three seconds — take the default. Russian original: Правило трёх секунд. Chapter 1 →

The asset rule

If it keeps working by itself afterwards, it is Grow: a written procedure, a policy, a hire, an article, a course. Russian original: Правило актива. Chapter 1 →

The core-function rule

The routine part of your own job is Stay — a teacher's marking, an accountant's payment runs. Work imposed from above is Stay as well. Russian original: Правило основной функции. Chapter 1 →

Key budget

A WIP limit: no more than 10 Key tasks at a time in one person's portfolio, counted by the marking owner. The eleventh Key is not stacked on top — one of the ten is demoted first. The question "is this task important?" becomes "is it more important than that one?" Russian original: Бюджет Key. Chapter 1 →

Key inflation

Key above 10% of the portfolio — a soft signal that priorities are inflating. Overload is almost always Key inflation, not an overloaded life. Russian original: Инфляция Key. Chapter 3 →

Freezer

A task with no Level: it takes part in no selection, no analytics and no counters. Frictionless capture — throw the idea in without answering a single question; defrosting means assigning a Level. Russian original: Морозилка. Chapter 1 →

Marking owner

Every task has exactly one marking owner, and in a shared team space that does not change depending on who is looking. Mode is always read from the point of view of the task's assignee; a manager does not re-mark subordinates' tasks to fit their own view. Russian original: Владелец разметки. Chapter 2 →

The day§

Filters

Step 1 of the day algorithm. A task takes part in today if: the move is yours (Do) · the assignee is you or nobody · the date is today or earlier · all four CALM coordinates are set. Russian original: Фильтры. Chapter 2 →

Day matrix

Six cells — rows are Level, columns are Change — read by number ① → ⑥; inside a cell the task with the earlier date comes first. Russian original: Матрица дня. Chapter 2 →

Cells

The six positions of the day matrix: ① Key·Grow, ② Key·Stay, ③ Important·Grow, ④ Important·Stay, ⑤ Regular·Grow, ⑥ Regular·Stay. Empty cells are normal. Russian original: клетки. Chapter 2 →

Grow column

Cells ①, ③, ⑤ in that order. The reserved place of the 2+1 rule belongs to its first task. Russian original: Grow-колонка. Chapter 2 →

The 2+1 rule

The rule that assembles the Focus: two places go to the first two tasks in reading order ① → ⑥, one place is reserved for the first task of the Grow column. If that task has already taken one of the first two places, the third place goes to the next task in reading order; if the whole day holds no Grow at all, the method offers the best Grow from the portfolio. Two tasks hold your today. One builds your tomorrow. Russian original: Правило 2+1. Chapter 2 →

Day Focus

Three tasks assembled by the 2+1 rule. Success of the day = the Focus is closed. You may swap any one task of the Focus — the next task in reading order takes its place; the Focus never grows beyond three. Russian original: Фокус дня. Chapter 2 →

Bonus

The next three tasks after the Focus in reading order. Bonus: made it, and that is good. Extra, never a debt. Russian original: Бонус. Chapter 2 →

"Not today"

Everything below the Bonus: it leaves your sight until the evening and is sorted out at the Closing. Zero overdue by morning. Russian original: «Не сегодня». Chapter 2 →

Places

The capacity of a day, measured in tasks and not in hours: the default is Focus 3 + Bonus 3. Fewer than six dated Do tasks — there is a place; seven or more — the day is overfilled. Six is a starting number, not dogma: the week calibrates capacity by fact. Russian original: Места. Chapter 4 →

Control block

A separate list of Delegated tasks — for holding people to account instead of carrying anxiety in your head. Micro-moves; when something burns, escalate: push it through or take it back. Russian original: Блок контроля. Chapter 2 →

Staleness timer

Waiting sleeps under a timer: silent for N days — the method offers to collect the pings. Delegated left unchecked for N days reads as "consider it not delegated". Russian original: Таймер протухания. Chapter 2 →

Team contour

Tasks assigned to other people. They do not pass through the Mode axis at all: the contour is built on three ordinary fields — assignee · Level · date — and such tasks never enter your day. On someone else's task, Delegated does not mean "I assigned it to them" — it means "they passed it on to someone else". Russian original: Контур команды. Chapter 2 →

Trust contract

The promise of the method: the Focus and the Bonus hold only your own moves; Delegated goes to the control block, Waiting sleeps under a timer; the method changes the composition of the Focus by itself only when something has Ignited — explicitly and with an explanation. Russian original: Контракт доверия. Chapter 2 →

Safeguards§

Safeguards

Three built-in rules for when the day breaks the algorithm: Overload (cured by the Unload), Stuck, Ignited. Russian original: Предохранители. Chapter 3 →

Overload

Safeguard ①: cells ①–② together hold more than three tasks. Selection does not begin — the Unload comes first. Russian original: Перегруз. Chapter 3 →

Unload

Four steps under Overload, in order: Honesty → Whose move → Shift → Crunch. Almost always it ends at the first step: overload is Key inflation. Russian original: Разгрузка. Chapter 3 →

Crunch

A day where more than three genuine Key tasks remain after the Unload: the Focus is the top three Key and the 2+1 rule is suspended for today. The Streak does not break. Three Crunch days in a row are not a crunch but a lifestyle: the method demands a portfolio review. Russian original: Аврал. Chapter 3 →

Stuck

Safeguard ②: a task postponed twice. In the evening it gets exactly three exits: tomorrow as Key · the Freezer · the bin. There is no third postponement. Russian original: Застряла. Chapter 3 →

Ignited

Safeguard ③: a new Key for today appeared during the day. The method re-assembles the Focus — explicitly and with an explanation. Russian original: Загорелось. Chapter 3 →

Portfolio review

A separate session for re-examining the portfolio, Level first. Demanded by three Crunch days in a row and by the Key-above-10% signal. It does not fit inside the 15-minute weekly ritual. Russian original: Ревизия портфеля. Chapter 3 →

Closing and the week§

Closing

The evening ritual: result, Carry-over, stuck tasks, "what is key tomorrow?", a Charge check-in. It gives back the right to finish the day. Russian original: Закрытие. Chapter 4 →

Carry-over

A step of the Closing: whatever was not closed moves deliberately — to the nearest day with a free place, to the Freezer, or to the bin. Russian original: Перелив. Chapter 4 →

"What is key tomorrow?"

A step of the Closing: the answer raises that task's Level to Key deliberately, for one day — by morning it is already in the Focus. Russian original: «Что завтра ключевое?». Chapter 4 →

Streak

Closed days add up into strength — and the Streak knows how to forgive: a Crunch day does not break it, a single stumble does not burn it. Russian original: Серия. Chapter 3 →

Charge

Care for the pace, not a coordinate: an evening check-in on energy and burnout signals read from behaviour — postponements growing, closings creeping into the night. The method's answer is simple: "tomorrow I'll assemble an easier day". Rest is not a task in a tracker but a structure of time. Russian original: Заряд. Chapter 4 →

The week (the ritual)

A 15-minute weekly ritual: facts (closed days, the Grow/Stay and Work/Life balances) → spread the tasks across days with free places → the Freezer (defrost what has ripened, clear out what has not). The week decides what gets into the days. The morning decides what matters today. Russian original: Неделя. Chapter 4 →

Week theme

1–3 textual directions approved at the weekly ritual: what this week is about. A textual direction is never called a Focus — Focus always means three tasks. Russian original: Тема недели. Chapter 4 →

Grow coverage

A weekly rule: every working day should hold at least one Grow candidate — otherwise in the morning the reserved place of the 2+1 rule will reach into the portfolio for a Grow, and the choice will be arbitrary. Russian original: Grow-покрытие. Chapter 4 →

Signals

Relative indicators, calibrated by role: Stay consistently outweighing Grow; Key above 10% of the portfolio; Do above 80% when you have a team; Waiting stale for N days; Delegated unchecked for N days; Life absent from the Focus for N days; three Crunch days in a row. Russian original: Сигналы. Chapter 4 →

Terms that are never translated§

Grow · Stay · Work · Life · Key · Important · Regular · Do · Delegated · Waiting. These ten strings are the values of the four axes. They are written in English and are never translated and never inflected — in Russian text as well as in English text. Three reasons:

• A value is a machine string. The same word stands in the tracker, in the prompt, in the assistant's answer and in a conversation between two people. One value — one spelling.
• Selection is a function of the marking. A translated value is a second name for the same coordinate, and two names break the reproducibility the whole method rests on: the same list gives the same day to anyone.
• The axes carry the same rule. Change · Area · Level · Mode keep their English names too, and the Mode axis is never renamed — the word must not collide with product modes.

The pair most often translated by reflex is Work / Life. Translate it and the term stops matching the label in the tracker, so the marking and the selection stop matching too.