Last night, or rather this morning, 14-year-old Aussie skateboarder Arisa Trew dropped into an Olympic skatepark in front of millions of eyes around the world. Too young to have a beer, and too young to stay at the Olympic Village, Arisa had her focus on one thing, and one thing alone; giving it her all.

Following the introduction of skateboarding at the Olympics in 2020, anyone, no matter how young or old could compete in the event. As such, it was not unusual to see a range of young adults don their countries colours on skateboards. While Arisa is barely even of teenage-age, she still had competition  in Paris younger than her, with an 11-year-old from China shredding the concrete under the rings.

While watching Arisa compete, I audibly said – to no one – “How is this girl only 14?” as she absolutely defied physics and rode with focus, determination, skill and modesty. If most children begin to walk confidently on their own at age two, for context, this young girl has only been walking for 12 years, speaking properly for 11 years, and has only just started high school. Yet, she can ride like that!

In the final, all signs looked at Arisa winning bronze – an incredible achievement in its own right – but then the moons aligned and she went all out with the mindset of “all or nothing”. This landed her an incredible 93.18, putting her on top of the podium and becoming the youngest athlete with Gold at this year’s Olympics – so far. I have never felt happier for a stranger than I did last night for Arisa. What a champion!

Arisa claimed not only Australia’s 14th Gold last night, but also the title of Australia’s youngest ever gold medalist of all time at just 14 years and 86 days old. The record was previously held by NSW’s swimmer Sandra Morgan (now 82) during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics when she was just 14 years and 183 days old. Ms Morgan was again known for her focus, determination and talent – despite a few false starts.

But if winning Gold so young wasn’t enough, when Arisa spoke to the press after her incredible feat, she was asked what she would be going for next, and despite literally being the world’s best skateboarder, she sought to be even better. So, even though she had smashed every expectation of her, Arisa said, in more modest words, she remained determined to continue to better herself.

For me, there is something incredibly humble and inspiring in that. We always look at things in our lives as journeys with a beginning, middle and end. We set goals, define dreams and achieve successes and failures in our quest for our passions. But usually in the back of our minds, there’s an end goal that tells us, ‘Yes, we’ve finally made it!’. But with Arisa, the goal wasn’t a tangible thing such as Gold at the Olympic Games, but rather it was about challenging herself and going “all out” to see where her limits were at that moment. She didn’t see herself as perfection, but rather the victor of the day.

With our careers, we can take this same attitude exhibited by a 14-year-old and remind ourselves that we’re not aspiring to a tangible goal. Getting a degree (or two), winning an industry award and securing a pay rise or promotion should be celebrated, sure, but all while looking at how we can continue to better ourselves and push expectations despite these successes. There is no tangible end goal or physical measurement of what it means to be the best, so keep striving and make sure you’re having fun while you’re doing so. Arisa will be.