Key Takeaways
Short points to keep in mind
- Eight simple posters tell clear stories about action, family, help, change, and gratitude.
- The drawings invite people to move from “one day” to “day one” with small real steps.
- Parents’ beliefs and support shape how children see themselves and their future.
- Real help is practical and kind, not just a pose that looks good from the outside.
- Famous names like Apple show that big projects often start in very small places.
- Remembering who helped in hard times keeps relationships strong and life more human.
Story & Details
A small booklet in a fast year
In 2025, screens feel busy and loud. Short videos, bright adverts, and quick messages flash past in seconds. In the middle of all this, a tiny digital booklet of eight motivational posters asks for something slower. Each page offers one picture and one short line. Together they tell a quiet story about how people live, grow, and care for each other.
The subject is clear. It is this set of eight motivational posters. They use soft drawings and easy English. They talk about starting, working, parenting, asking for help, letting go of the past, building big things from small rooms, and giving thanks to the people who stay close when life is difficult.
From “one day” to “day one”
One poster shows a man lying in bed under a blanket. He looks relaxed. Above him float the words “ONE DAY…”. In the next part of the same poster, the man sits at a desk with a laptop. His face is serious. He works hard. Drops of sweat show that the task is not easy. Now the words above him are “DAY 01”.
The message is easy to understand. Many people say “one day” about a wish: a new job, a new course, a move to another place. This picture gently pushes that dream forward. It says that real change starts on the first small action, even when it feels messy and a bit scary. The first day is the one that breaks the wall between wish and reality. Ideas from research on “mental contrasting” support this picture: people are more likely to act when they imagine a better future and also face the real obstacles that stand in the way.
When smart effort beats hard effort
Another poster goes under the water. A group of turtles swims at the same slow, steady speed. One turtle, however, has a tiny motor and a spinning propeller tied to its shell. That turtle moves far ahead of the others. The caption says, “In the end only results matter not the efforts.”
The line sounds sharp, but the picture adds nuance, a very small difference in meaning and feeling. The idea is not that effort is useless. The idea is that effort plus a good method can go much further than effort alone. A better tool, a clearer plan, or a small change in routine can turn slow movement into real progress. The motor on the turtle’s shell stands for this smarter way of working. It suggests that people can think not only about how long they work, but also about how they work.
The quiet power of parents
Several posters move from personal effort to family life. One gentle scene shows a child climbing steps marked “SUCCESS”. The steps are small, but the child keeps going up. Behind the child, a mother kneels with folded hands. She prays quietly, away from the child’s eyes. Under the picture are the words, “No power is greater than a mother’s prayer.”
This image speaks to hidden work at home. Parents and other caregivers often worry, hope, and plan in silence. Warm support, kind words, and steady belief can give a child strength for school, friendships, and later work. Another poster makes this link even stronger. A woman sits in a prison cell and looks at marks scratched into the wall. Inside her body, a baby copies the same pose and looks at the same kind of marks. The words say, “Your thoughts will reflect on your child.”
These pictures suggest that the way adults see the world can pass to their children, even before those children are old enough to speak. Studies on parents’ mindsets find that when adults believe abilities can grow, they often support effort and learning more, and this can shape how children see their own skills and chances.
Help that is real, not only for show
Another poster looks light at first but quickly feels sharp. At the bottom of a deep pit stands a person with arms raised in a silent call for help. At the top of the pit, another person holds a long ladder. They smile and pose as if they are doing something heroic. But the ladder is flat on the ground and never reaches down.
The line under the picture says, “Some people just act like they’re trying to help you.”
This scene shows a kind of help that is only for display. Real help is different. Real help uses the ladder in the way it was made to be used. It means listening, changing plans, and doing something that may cost time or energy. Research on social and emotional support in health shows that real, steady care can protect people far beyond the stressful moment itself, in both body and mind. The poster turns this truth into one simple question: who is mainly there for the photo, and who is ready to get their hands dirty to pull someone up?
The chains of an old self
A powerful poster focuses again on a single person. A man leans forward, ready to run. His whole body shows effort. But heavy chains stretch from his body to the ground behind him. At the other end lies another version of the same man, tired and collapsed. The text says, “You cannot become what you want to be because you are too attached to what you have been.”
This image shows a very common human struggle. Many people want change: a new habit, a calmer life, a different way of speaking, a new kind of work. At the same time, there is a quiet pull back to old labels and old stories about “what kind of person” someone is. The picture suggests that moving forward does not mean hating the past. It means gently loosening the chain to that old self so that a new version has room to grow. Work on mental contrasting points in the same direction: seeing the future and the obstacle side by side helps people plan real steps instead of staying stuck in old patterns.
From small rooms to world-famous names
One poster steps out of private life and looks at famous companies. It places early and modern pictures of three big brands next to each other: Apple, Google, and Amazon. On one side are old photos of small, simple rooms and garages. On the other side are bright glass offices and wide campuses.
This contrast tells a quiet story about humble beginnings. Apple, for example, is founded on 1 April 1976 in California by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who start the company in a home and garage before it grows into a well-known technology brand. Records from the Library of Congress describe this modest start in detail. The poster does not ask the viewer to build a huge company. It simply says that a serious project that begins on a kitchen table or in a corner of a small room is not less real. Many big things start in places that look ordinary at first.
Gratitude for the hard days
The last poster returns to a warm, gentle scene. A child stands next to a lion whose paw, the foot of the animal, is wrapped in a bandage. A small tiger cub stands nearby. The caption reads, “Never forget who helped you in the hardest time.”
Here, the lion has known pain, and the child has known fear. Now they stand together, stronger. The message is simple and deep. When life becomes easier again, it is easy to forget the people who helped when it was not. This poster suggests that a good life is not only about personal success. It is also about memory and loyalty to those who stay when things are difficult. Studies on social support and health point to the same lesson: people who feel supported tend to cope better and stay healthier over time.
A tiny Dutch language note
One small detail fits well with these posters about understanding and connection. In Dutch, the word “straat” means “street”, and the word “burgemeester” means “mayor”. Learning tiny pieces of another language like this can make faraway places and people feel closer.
In much the same way, these eight posters turn big ideas into small pictures and short lines. They make action, mindset, support, and gratitude feel close and easy to see, even for a reader with very simple English.
Conclusions
A quiet map for daily life
Eight short posters, each with one clear scene and one short sentence, do not look important at first glance. Yet together they offer a soft map for daily life in 2025. They invite people to start now instead of waiting for “one day”. They point toward smart effort, not only hard effort. They show how the inner world of parents can shape a child’s first idea of life. They ask people to look for help that is honest and to loosen the chains that tie them to an old self.
They also remind readers that many big projects begin in small, ordinary spaces and that a kind memory of those who helped in hard times is part of a rich life. In a fast, noisy year, these quiet images offer a steady voice: look, think, and then take one small step.
Selected References
Sources for deeper reading
[1] Nicole Celestine. “What Is Mental Contrasting and How Can We Benefit From It?” PositivePsychology.com, 1 January 2020. Available at: https://positivepsychology.com/mental-contrasting/
[2] Maija Reblin and Bert N. Uchino. “Social and Emotional Support and Its Implication for Health.” Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 21(2), 201–205, 2008. Open-access summary at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2729718/
[3] Library of Congress. “The Founding of Apple Computer, Inc.” This Month in Business History. Available at: https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/april/apple-computer-founded
[4] Laura M. Justice, Kelly M. Purtell, Dorthe Bleses, and Sugene Cho. “Parents’ Growth Mindsets and Home-Learning Activities: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Danish and US Parents.” Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1365, 2020. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01365/full
[5] Carol Dweck. “The Power of Believing That You Can Improve.” TED talk on growth mindset, TED channel on YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X0mgOOSpLU
Appendix
A–Z of key terms
Action step
A small and clear thing someone can do soon, such as writing one page, making one call, or starting one short lesson, that turns a wish into real movement.
Dutch mini-lesson
A tiny language note that teaches simple Dutch words like “straat” for “street” and “burgemeester” for “mayor”, to make life and places in the Netherlands easier to imagine.
Growth mindset
The belief that abilities and intelligence are not fixed but can improve over time through effort, practice, and feedback, so mistakes become chances to learn rather than final failures.
Humble beginnings
A simple or modest starting point for a person, project, or company, such as working from a small room or garage before any success or public attention arrives.
Mental contrasting
A thinking method where a person imagines a positive future and then calmly looks at the real obstacles in the present, so that plans and effort fit reality and goals are more likely to be reached.
Nuance
A very small and fine difference in meaning, sound, or feeling that can change how something is understood, even when the words or images look almost the same.
Paw
The foot of an animal such as a dog, cat, lion, or tiger, usually soft underneath and often with claws, shown in the posters as something that can be hurt and then healed with care.
Social support
The care, listening, advice, and practical help that come from friends, family, neighbours, and communities, which can protect both mental and physical health in daily life.
My Diary - Leonardo Cardillo 