Skipping Steps Meme Template

A boy stretches across several stairs in one enormous stride. Label the steps to show someone jumping from a starting point straight to a result while skipping the work in between.

The stairs turn a sequence into something visible. The wide stride makes it obvious that the person is trying to bypass part of the process.

The skipped stage is the important one: research, practice, preparation, or any other necessary step. The destination should reveal what the person is impatient to reach.

Know Your Meme documents a labeled version posted to r/dankchristianmemes on March 23, 2019. Its record establishes an early meme use, but does not identify the original photographer or the boy. [1]

An April 3 Imgur post used the stairs for stages of a relationship. Further Reddit reposts and new labels followed during April, turning the photograph into a reusable way to joke about skipped steps. [1]

Label the boy, a low starting step, an intermediate step, and a higher destination. Read the sequence from the bottom of the stairs upward.

Keep each stair label to a word or two. Leave the stretched legs visible, because the stride is what connects the skipped stage to the joke.

Who is taking the shortcut

On the boy’s red shirt.

The starting point

On a lower step near the back foot.

The stage being skipped

On an intermediate stair.

The desired destination

On a higher stair above the stretched leg.

• Read the stairs from bottom to top.
• Give the skipped stage a meaningful label.
• Make the destination tempting or premature.
• Keep labels short and the wide stride visible.