There’s something about builders that I can’t stop thinking about.

Not the Instagram version. Not the “look at this cool logo we made” version. I mean the kind of person who wakes up one day and says, “You know what would be fun? Let’s create something out of thin air… and then be responsible for it forever.”

That’s today’s guest — Mike Dragosavich, founder of Spotlight Media.

On paper, it’s simple. Founder. Media company. Visionary. Leader.

But that’s like saying the Olympics are just “some races and routines.” Technically accurate. Deeply incomplete.

Mike grew up on the South Side of Chicago. And you can hear it in him. There’s a competitiveness. A chip. A standard. Not in an arrogant way — in a “we’re not skipping reps” kind of way.

And this conversation isn’t about business tactics as much as it is about that internal standard.

Because what fascinated me as we talked was this: performance isn’t an accident for him. It’s a decision.

I’m fascinated by performance.

The Olympics are wild. Years of work for one moment. No hiding. No edits. Just execution.

Entrepreneurship is similar — except the moment lasts about ten years and payroll is attached to it.

As we talked about the early days of Spotlight, about risk, about pressure, about growth… what stood out wasn’t hype. It was ownership.

Ownership of mistakes.
Ownership of standards.
Ownership of effort.

There’s an edge to him — but it’s disciplined. Directed. Not chaotic.

And this is where it intersects with Time & Energy.

You can’t add more hours to your day, but you can reclaim the energy that gives those hours meaning.

Performance isn’t about cramming more into your calendar. It’s about aligning your energy with what actually matters. It’s about managing your internal state so pressure doesn’t start driving the bus.

Mike talks about competing. He talks about pushing. He talks about expecting more — from himself and from others.

But he also talks about growth. About building people. About culture. About the weight of leadership.

Because at some point, high performance stops being about you winning.

It becomes about what the people around you feel when you walk into the room.

Building a company from scratch sounds glamorous on LinkedIn. It’s less glamorous when it’s your name on the line and the decisions are real.

There’s a toughness in Mike’s story. But it’s not reckless grind-for-the-sake-of-grind energy. It’s intentional. It’s focused.

He doesn’t just work hard.
He chooses where to direct his effort.

Time is fixed.
Energy is renewable — but only when it’s aligned.

You can hear alignment in this episode. Alignment between identity and action. Between standards and execution. Between vision and discipline.

You’ll also hear evolution.

The Mike who started isn’t the Mike leading now. And that’s the other side of performance we don’t talk about enough — you don’t just scale revenue. You have to scale yourself.

As you listen, consider:

Where do his standards come from?
How does he process pressure?
What does he refuse to compromise?
And where has growth required him to change?

This isn’t just a conversation about media.

It’s about grit.
It’s about guts.
It’s about building something that didn’t exist until you decided it would.

And staying in the arena long enough to see it through.

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My conversation with Brady Opheim goes back a long way — about 20 years, give or take a few questionable decisions.

From the outside, Brady’s life looks pretty dialed in: small-town roots, a successful business, a family, and a lot of hard-earned experience. But as we talked, it became clear that even a “good” life can drift if comfort starts to replace intention.

In this episode, Brady shares what shifted for him after a serious injury and a few close calls forced him to slow down and take an honest look at how he was living. Not because things were broken — but because he realized they could be better.

We talk about alcohol not as a villain, but as a distraction. About leadership as ownership before authority. About the difference between being busy and actually moving with purpose. And about how easy it is to argue for your limitations when you’ve been telling yourself the same story for years.

Brady also opens up about a demanding leadership experience that pushed him well outside his comfort zone and reshaped how he shows up — at work, at home, and with the people who matter most.

This isn’t a dramatic reinvention story. It’s more like two guys who’ve known each other a long time having an honest conversation about what it looks like to grow up — again.

If you’ve ever felt successful but slightly off-course, this one’s worth a listen.

Keep Grinding,

NJL

Discover Leadership

Book: "Unreasonable Possibilities" - by Mike Jones

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BONUS: Recap #1 of Interview Through-Lines: Competitive Spirit

We reflect on how to channel the competitive spirit into leadership that people choose to follow. We share why hiring is the first job, how culture grows from people, not companies, and how to build environments where growth is the real scoreboard.

• reframing competition from beating others to mastering systems
• translating sports lessons to professional pressure and coaching
• difference between positional power and lasting influence
• Why hiring and selecting leaders sets the culture
• companies don’t create culture, people do
• designing environments where performance and learning grow
• values as the filter when goals and politics clash
• preview of a deeper dive on values next time

Please shoot me a note. Let me know your thoughts and what else you want to hear about. Nick at timeandenergy.co. Check out the website www.timeandenergy.co

Keep Grinding,

NJL

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