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 daily 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 poster has 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: this set of eight motivational posters. They use soft drawings and simple 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 see. 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.
Researchers who study “mental contrasting” describe something very close to this scene. They find that people are more likely to act when they imagine a better future and, at the same time, face the real obstacles in their way. When a person links the dream to the difficult parts and plans steps, action becomes more likely than if they only daydream. The poster turns this idea into a simple story about getting out of bed and sitting down to do the work.
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 hard, 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.
Studies on learning and performance support this view. They show that how people work often matters as much as how long they work. Feedback, clear goals, and smart strategies can all act like that little motor on the turtle’s shell. The poster gives a playful image for a serious message: do not just work more; work in a better way.
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, out of the child’s sight. Under the picture are the words, “No power is greater than a mother’s prayer.”
This image points 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.”
Researchers who study parenting and “mindset” find that when adults believe abilities can grow, they often focus more on effort and learning, not just on “talent”. This affects how they talk to children and how they support school work at home. Over time, children pick up these beliefs. A hopeful inner world in adults can help build a hopeful inner world in children. The posters turn complex graphs and numbers into two strong human scenes.
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 lies 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 shows that this kind of real, steady care can protect both body and mind. People who feel supported often handle stress better and tend to be healthier over time. The poster turns a large body of science into one simple question: who is mainly there for the photo, and who is ready 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.
Studies on habit change and identity suggest that change is easier when people start to see themselves in a new way: “I am someone who is learning”, “I am someone who looks after my health”, “I am someone who keeps trying”. Mental contrasting fits here too, because it asks people to hold the new picture of themselves next to the old reality and then plan steps that move them toward the new identity. The poster turns all of this into one clear chain that needs to loosen for the man to move.
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, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. Early work on the first Apple computers takes place in a family home and garage before the company grows into a well-known technology brand. Business history material from respected museums and libraries repeats this modest start.
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. For someone with a small desk, an old laptop, or a shared room, this image can feel like a calm hand on the shoulder: start here; this is enough.
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.
Research on gratitude and social support points to the same lesson. People who remember and value those who stood by them often report better wellbeing and stronger relationships. Gratitude works like a quiet thread that links past help to future kindness. The poster makes this idea visible in one soft scene between a child and a lion.
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, real step.
Selected References
Articles and reports
[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] 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
[4] 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
Video
[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 