About

Patrick's To-Do List or To-Do List, Nothing refers to an exploitable image macro based on a still image showing the SpongeBob SquarePants character Patrick Star listing his tasks for the day, which originally had "nothing" written. The image and GIF began appearing online in the late 2000s but gained viral usage in memes in May 2020 as netizens added relatable texts to the to-do list and edited the original. The meme also became popularized as it was combined with the Spongebob Thinking meme format.

Origin

The original episode of SpongeBob in which the scene occurs is episode 79a from season 4, titled "The Pink Purloiner," which was released in the U.S. on February 19th, 2007 (seen below).

According to a reverse image search on TinEye,^[6] images of the to-do list began seeing usage on forums such as PCGames.de as early as February 7th, 2008, continuing over the following years. The exact first memetic use is unknown.

On August 8th, 2011, Know Your Meme^[7] user Piano uploaded a Demotivational Poster meme using the screengrab to the site, receiving roughly 3,400 views in 13 years (shown below).

Spread

On February 26th, 2018, an unknown Tenor^[1] user posted the scene from SpongeBob SquarePants in which Patrick Star's hand is holding a piece of paper that says "to-do list," as the character scratches the word "nothing" out (seen below).

Sometime in February 2018, Imgflip^[2] user @tanekawolfe-searcy posted another memetic version of Patrick's To-Do List scene, adding the text, "Tai's daily to-do list," which amassed more than 5,500 views in seven years.

Patrick's To-Do List continued to be popularized as an image macro and exploitable meme format in the following years. For instance, on September 27th, 2024, Memedroid^[3] user @PoptatoChisps posted a version of the image joking about "Russia around 1960," adding the following tasks to the list: "expand, grow in size and get larger." The post (seen below) amassed more than 370 likes in six months.

On February 23rd, 2025, X^[4] / Twitter owner and Department of Government Efficiency lead Elon Musk uploaded a version of the meme paired with a SpongeBob Thinking image, adding texts in the list about him and the United States President Donald Trump. The tweet (seen below) received over 28 million views and 373,000 likes in a day. The post notably received coverage in the press that day.^[5]

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Various Examples

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