The Clothesline Method

A Simple System for Tangled Thinking

The Clothesline Method is a deceptively simple, tactile system designed to help thinkers—especially neurodivergent ones—externalise, clarify, and organise complex or messy ideas. It began as a personal practice: hanging blank cards and written notes on an actual piece of string line strung on a wall. Over time, its underlying logic revealed a deeper structure rooted in mathematics (specifically, geometric series and category theory) and became one of the foundational tools of the Mangrove system and part of our “MindSweeper” suite of frameworks, products and workflows that suit brains like ours.

1. Just Start

Begin with what you’ve got. Scribble thoughts on cards, notes, or sheets—half-formed or otherwise. The key is to get it out of your head and into the basket - our idea “triage” space.

2. Externalise and Spread

Next, pin in your notes in any order onto the line—real or digital—without overthinking. Let the spacing between them create rhythm. You’ll start to see clusters, gaps, patterns. This works particularly well to work through projects that need to happen in a particular order, and helps you fill in ever more detailed notes about the steps needed to get there, even if you didn’t think of them at first.

3. Emergent Structure

From this external spread, clarity begins to emerge. The line allows for fluid reordering, grouping, adding, subtracting and combining. It’s not about premature structure—it’s about surfacing what’s already there.

4. AI-Powered Reflection

Within Mangrove’s emergent Epoch OS, AI can now assist: summarising, tagging, or prompting next steps. But the system remains human-first—playful, visual, and cognitively calming.

Whether used as a digital framework or a physical kit, the Clothesline Method helps you move from chaos to coherence—one peg at a time.