From Addiction to Purpose: John Langdon’s “Whatever It Takes” Story

This may be one of the most powerful and real conversations we’ve had on Finding Your Innergator.

In this episode, RB Wright sits down with John Langdon, a loan officer whose story is nothing short of transformational.

Just a few years ago, John was battling addiction at the deepest level—meth, heroin, and alcohol—living in what he describes as the darkest place imaginable.

Today?

He’s building a thriving business, impacting thousands of lives, and living out a mission rooted in discipline, faith, and purpose.

 What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

•  John’s journey from addiction and rock bottom to recovery and purpose 
•  How small decisions led to massive consequences—and how new decisions changed everything 
•  The role of discipline, faith, and daily habits in rebuilding a life 
•  How he went from 14 loans a year → 83+ units → explosive growth in 2026
•  The power of massive action and consistency
•  Why relationships are the true driver of opportunity 
•  How clarity and intentional action changed his trajectory 

 The Turning Point:

At his lowest moment, John wrote five words on a dry erase board:

 “Whatever it takes, I want to live.”

That mindset didn’t just save his life…

It now drives everything he does.

 Impact Beyond Business

John is the co-founder of Whatever It Takes Addiction Prevention, a nonprofit focused on educating students about the dangers of addiction.

•  Reaching over 20,000 students
•  Sharing real stories that resonate 
•  Helping young people make better decisions before it’s too late 

His message is simple:

• Small decisions matter.
•   Discipline matters.
•   Your life can change.

CLICK TO HERE TO LEARN ABOUT JOHN's NON-PROFIT

 Key Takeaways:

•  You are not defined by your past 
•  Growth requires intentional daily discipline
•  Massive action + consistency = massive results 
•  Relationships create opportunities 
•  When you change your mindset, everything changes 

 This Week’s Challenge:

Ask yourself:

 “Where am I not doing whatever it takes?”

Is it your habits?
 Your discipline?
 Your consistency?

Because that’s where your breakthrough is.

 Final Thought:

Inside every one of us…

there is greatness.

But it’s not found.

 It’s built—one disciplined decision at a time.

 If this episode impacted you, share it with someone who needs to hear it.

And as always…

 Go Gatorize your day.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Finding Your Innergator Podcast, where we talk about discipline, relationships, and the habits that release to greatness that is already inside of you. I'm your host, RB Wright, and I am so glad that you're here. In each episode, we'll explore powerful lessons, real life stories, and practical strategies to help you live intentionally, build meaningful relationships, and unlock your full potential. But greatness isn't something you stumble into, it's something that is built every single day. So let's get started and begin the journey to finding your inner gator. Alright, hello everybody and yes. Welcome to Finding Your Innergator. This is your host, RB Wright, and I gotta tell you, like I tell you every week, I am so glad that you're here. You know, over the last uh wow, 14, 15 uh episodes, we we've talked about um the optimizing of relationships, right? And then we dug deeper. Every day you've got daily disciplines where you get clear, you act with intention, you track. If you measure it, you can manage it. If you manage it, you can improve it, but you got to know where you're at to even start. And we honed in on optimizing relationships, leveraging those relationships. No matter where you're at today, I guarantee you you got blood, sweat, and tears in everything that you do. But trust me, if you look back, there were relationships that helped you get through something that opened up doors and gave you opportunities that you were able to leverage. And I imagine that people have leveraged a relationship with you as well. And then the R, every day you've got to reset and get rest. Reflect, what did I do right? What did I do wrong? And know that every day is a battle. Every day is a battle, and you have to go back and look. Did you win the day? And if you didn't, it's okay. We're resetting and we're starting tomorrow. We've had a couple of guests on, you know, we had Alison Blanchard out of Wisconsin, Zam Monroe out of Fayetteville, North Carolina. Great stories. But I can tell you today, today to me is just a fascinating story. I've known this young man for about three and a half years. He and I actually work at the same company. Many of you know uh that I run the uh what they call Division I for Union Home Mortgage. And I had the pleasure of meeting him about three and a half years ago. And I have watched him grow and I've learned his story. And uh today he's going to share some of his story with us, uh, where he was at and where he's at today. And I think you'll be very intrigued when you start seeing the correlation of the things that we talk about and how these these same things he does daily. He does daily. So, John Langdon, John Langdon, you on? What's going on, RB? How are you? I'm good, buddy. Can you hear me all right? Yes, sir. Can you hear me? Yeah, I can. You know, one thing I like about this already is uh you got the Alabama accent, I got the North Carolina accent, so we both can understand each other in this conversation. That's right. That's awesome. So, John, here's what I want to do. If you would, um let's let's just start and we're gonna get into the daily pieces in a minute and the success you're having, but it's been just a couple minutes to to lay a foundation of um uh kind of where you work. Now you're looking this is 2026. Uh it's in the month of May. And are you 26 years old? Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 4:06

I'm 29. You're probably referring to Bison Games. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know what is funny?

SPEAKER_02 4:10

I was I was talking to him earlier. Uh 20 um 29. Still, you are below 30, brother, and you've lived a full life. So kind of tell us um, you know, uh, kind of where you were at. Tell just in in what you're comfortable with, just kind of talk about some of the struggles that you had.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Yeah. Everybody's got their own stories, and uh, and everybody's been through some stuff. So I don't want to go too deep into the mess, but um, before I came to Union Home Mortgage, I was in the deepest, darkest place that anybody could possibly be. And I'll say this the Lord has restored me from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. Uh almost lost my life to drugs and alcohol. And um, and thank God I was able to surrender my will over to him in uh in 2022, and that's around the same time that I'd come on, you know, right before I came on with Union Home Mortgage. So 2022 I didn't do but just a few loans. Um 2023, I was really bouncing back, and it was it was grow or die, right? I had to grow or or I was gonna die. And I had to grow in my faith, I had to grow in my relationships, I had to grow in business, I had to grow in every aspect that you could possibly think of in life. So 2023, I only did 14 loans, but I was bouncing back, I was getting back on my feet, and I was learning uh the culture at Union Home Mortgage, which is world class. And um and from there in 2024, I went from the 14 units I did the year before in 2024, I did 33 units, but I did pick one thing up in 2024, and that was construction of perm lending. And and when somebody goes after something, when I go after something, I'm not just gonna dip my toe in it, I'm gonna immerse myself in it, and I'm going off all the way ahead, full speed, um, and and learning it the way that I need to learn it. So I tapped into that in 2024 and closed my first construction of perm loan uh among the 33. In 2025, I closed 83 units, so huge growth, over double of growth. And then so far in 2026, I'm at 51 units year to date, and I'm licensed in several states and doing a ton of construction of perm business.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Look, I'm I'm gonna tell you from the from the work standpoint, um that is that is awesome. I mean, you you talk about a 10x uh mentality. So you go from 14, two years later you're doing 83, uh, and you you said a couple of things. Um don't want to deep dive this. However, uh when we wrap up, I want to talk about uh what you're doing, uh I think foundation-wise to help help other folks. But when you say, because I just want to I want to paint a picture right bottom, which is a true statement. Um you said hey, you know, I had struggles with drug and and alcohol. The tr the truth of the matter is, and hope you don't mind me saying this, yeah, we're not talking about about hanging out at a party, having a cold beer and some weed. We're we're talking about about crack houses, meth. We're talking about uh things that will absolutely not just destroy your life, but will absolutely kill you, and it's an addiction that people do not that haven't haven't been a part of it do not understand. Is that is that a fair assessment?

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Oh my gosh, it it's the worst thing in the entire world. And and the thing about it is like I don't even know how I'm here other than God. I mean, God's the only way that I'm here to even tell my story, and and we will talk about the nonprofit and stuff at the end, but yeah, it was uh it was the most miserable thing that I could have possibly gone through, and I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure that nobody else goes through that. You're right, it was meth, heroin, fentanyl, but it didn't start out like that. Um it, you know, my dad was an FBI agent, and my mom was the head over community corrections, so I was like the last one that anybody would have ever thought would have been addicted to that type of stuff. But it started out, you know, seventh and eighth grade with small choices with weed and alcohol and and then ended up having surgery. And it's a similar story to many people, but the doctors prescribing me painkillers, and then from there um just going deeper and deeper and deeper into my addiction until the point where I was addicted to meth and heroin is as bad as that sounds to say, but God has allowed me to turn my shame into his glory, and I mean that's all that matters is where I'm at now and what I'm able to do with it.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

So I have 472 thoughts running through my head right now. And and the and the first one is you just made a you you said something very, very wise, and and we talk about on here a lot. Where we're at today. Well, you know what, where you were at yesterday um was a result of the decisions that you made uh days prior to that, right? Where you meaning when you're you said I made small decisions, choices when I was in seventh and eight grade, and that kind of put me on the path. Where you're at today, when I look back over the last three and a half years, is a result of the choices you you made then as well. And and the only thing I'm trying to say there is uh Bri Brian Tra I love to read dude, and Brian Tracy said one time that uh reputations professional, personal, uh they are a result of what we've done up to this point. But tomorrow's reputation is gonna be based on what we did today. And it's continually doing those things, taking those steps, moving in the right direction, where people don't look at John and say, Oh man, he's he's a drugie. They look at you today and say, My gosh, this guy is a rock star. He's he's helping people, he's he's got a heck of a business, beautiful family. It's based on the choices that you made. And and the thing I love about it, it doesn't matter where you're at, personally or professionally, you have to get clear and get your mind right and make the decision that you're gonna win today. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Oh, yeah. I mean, everything that I do is intentional. So, I mean, I did share with you a couple couple days ago, last week, about what my morning looks like. And I'm if I'm not disciplined, yeah. If I'm not disciplined in anything, RB, I'm disciplined in my morning meditation and what I do. And I I kind of go through and I put my spiritual armor on every single morning with uh prayers for you know fear, anger, resentment, sexual misconduct, um, anything, just asking that God's will in my life be done, thy will, not mine be done. And then I boom, I go out and I pursue. And if I get off track, I'll come back in and I'll I'll do the things that I need to do that's gonna earn me the business that I'm trying to build. And um, everything is relational in this business. And I think that I spend most of my time building relationships because that's where the most fruit comes from.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

Dude, uh you know, you know what you don't know if you just realize what you just said. Every morning I get clear, I go through, I put on my armor, I go through, and by the way, when I was with uh uh John, we were at an event and uh he shared his story very much in depth. Uh there's probably 160 people in the room, and he actually went through this is what I do every morning. And he word for word went through the prayers that he goes through every morning. And I'm sitting there looking at him thinking, man, he's getting clear. He's getting clear this morning, he's getting his head right. And then he said, Y'all you you guys just heard him say this. I didn't tell him to say any of this. He goes, but I act with intention every day. And then I track, and if I get off track, I come back and I reset. But everything I'm doing right now is because of the relationships I'm building. You know, John and I have never had an integrator conversation, but he is evidence that what we're talking about is absolutely the daily disciplines that everybody needs to have. Now tell me this. This is where I get excited. This is where I get excited. When I look at the first page first page, dude, the first page of President's Club today, you know whose name I see. What is that? Yours. I see yours, baby. I see yours on there. And and I smile. I smile because not even knowing, I even I smile even more today because I did not know your past uh until you shared it, right? I didn't know those battles. I look at it because I saw a guy that was twenty at a time of twenty-six, closing fourteen loans a month, uh just barely closing one a one a month, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Yeah, yeah, fourteen loans a year, one one a month. Yeah, one a month. Yeah. Terrible place.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

And then I look at and and I mean you're trying to make a living. And then I look today, and you're you're closing close to that amount a month right now, and you haven't even hit your stride yet. And so I look at that story and I think, wow, so tell me when you look at work struggles, right? You're you're you're in the trenches, you're trying to figure it out, you're doing one loan a month. What mindset or habit changed for you to go from 14 loans a year to 51 through the first part of May?

SPEAKER_00 14:19

So a few things. I had to take massive action, right? And like I had said earlier, my brain is all over the place, ADHD, XYZ, but I can still take massive action and be pretty successful while doing so. So I've really had to dial in and get my systems and processes in place and invest in myself and have uh people hired onto the company, but pay their salary and uh and continue to do that and dial in through our coaching program that we have here at Union Home Mortgage. That has helped out a ton, just the accountability. But um, and it's nothing so special that I did. It's it's God that's done it for me, right? Out of self, into God, into service, and into others. And you gotta be passionate about this business. You can't, I don't just make a phone call and it's it's never mundane with me. I'm I'm intentional, like I said. I go after it, and I make people feel like this is the biggest purchase of the of their life, like it is, and that I want to be the one that helps them walk through that process. And the and again, the niche product. You know, I started out with stick built, and now I do a ton of manufactured, and that's a culture in itself, um, very hard for me to get in. It took it took a few years for me to really break into that market, but when I did, look at what it's it's it's been I I I don't even know, words get in the way.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Yeah, well, let me just tell you what you what you said. Several years ago, I was reading a book by Grant Cardone, and one sentence stood out to me, and that was massive action equals massive results. Massive action equals massive results. You just you just literally just said that. Is that you knew that in order to get to where you need to be, you had to do something completely different, not changing who you are as a person, but the way that you did things. The second thing that you uh and actually the third thing you said, I'm gonna hit it second, was man, this took three years. It's taken me three years, and I'm still trying to figure it out, but I'm having success, and that's because you were consistent. You acted with intention, but you were consistent. The third thing, and I want this to come out the right way. Uh Zan and I were uh a good friend of mine, Zam Monroe and I were having a conversation last week uh about doors that open, opportunity. And you just said, hey, this God, uh if you know anything about me, I would agree with that statement. But what I also would say is this the opportunities are there that God presents. The problem is most people are either too scared to walk through the door that he just opened, or they're too blind to see it. And when I see your numbers, when I see what you're doing, you took massive action. You've been very consistent in your action, and your life is completely different, business-wise and personal, from three years ago, closing 14. Probably wondering how in the world am I going to put fuel in my car to doing doing three times that volume in the first four months of the year. And it's because you also had your eyes open, your heart where it needed to be, and when those doors opened up, you didn't just walk through it, dude. You ran through it and said, All right, we're gonna figure this out. So uh when when you say, Hey, God has done this, God has given you opportunity, but you were clear enough, open enough to see them. Make sense? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

No, it does. Yeah, I had to, and he rewards all the effort that you play. So, and this doesn't matter if it's with builders, realtors, uh, personal friends, business associates, whoever it is, like I I pray for opportunity every single day. And anytime that I take and I put forth effort, some way he shows up and it's like a God link, boom, there's another opportunity. And I can't, and there's so many of them. If I just had a journal and I wrote down every single thing that that happened in my life and just the crazy, I was gonna say coincidences, but I don't believe in coincidences. There's nothing coincidental that happens in God's world. I don't believe in you know God makes mistakes either. So it's uh yeah, you you put forth the effort, and then there's more and more opportunities revealed to you every single day. Uh, you just gotta capitalize on those opportunities whenever you see them and um be intentional with them.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

Well, anybody who's heard me talk knows that a lot of times I've I use the phrase that what you focus on expands. And when you start people talk about the law of attraction, and I don't look uh I I struggle with that because what it says is if you put it in the universe, it's gonna come to you. What I say is if you focus on it, just like you focused on the new niche, and and it doesn't matter what your career is, when you focus on it, you begin moving forward, take that massive action, you're going to feel like that that God and the universe is just sending you all this stuff. The truth of the matter is those opportunities were always there. You're just looking through a different set of lens now, and you can see them. And so I you know, hats off for you seeing the opportunity and and going in both feet. Uh two two more thoughts for you. Number one, um your journey, and you can go down the path of personal and professional here. Um what lessons uh that that you think you've learned that people who are seeking to grow personally, professionally, what's what's the what's some lessons you've learned that they can apply?

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Oh man. Well, you got to get real clear about what goals you want to have. It doesn't matter if your goals are are bigger than the world, right? Because I I had zero goals. I just wanted to stay alive a few years ago, and that that was that was really the only goal I had was that I had to a little bit of, you know, I had enough of will to do whatever it takes to live, and and that's what what I had to live in at that moment in time. But but from there, um the goals you know got bigger, and it went from getting out of the draw hole four thousand dollars in in 2023 when I'd only closed 14 loans. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

I mean, that makes you laugh. Well, people who are not in uh mortgage banking uh or a commission job, they don't understand that if you don't close during the pay period, you still got to get paid. But that's a prepayment on what should be coming. It's a draw. And all of a sudden it goes from $1,000 to $2,000. It's like having a credit card you can't make a minimum payment on. To be $4,000 in the hole.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

And three months behind on my mortgage. So not only was I four thousand, you know, so so the Lord has done it exceedingly and abundantly more than I could ever ask, think, or imagine uh possible, but I had to get real clear on what I was gonna do, right? And so I do my daily morning uh meditations and I I I cleared my head up. Then I started setting bigger goals like, hey, I want to get at least get paid up on my mortgage, and then hey, I want to get I want to get three months ahead, and then I realized. I want to start taking these loans and doing two or three a month to doing five or six a month. And so it's just multiplied from there. And then I want to get my LOA that got fired because I wasn't producing. I felt terrible about that. I want to make that right. I want to get her back on. And then, you know, it went from one thing to the next to now I want to go after builder business. How am I going to do that? And so I I went and you know, one day after the next to all the lots around or the different um building companies and tried to get in there until I finally got a shot and I walked through it and I didn't have too too much business, thank goodness, because it is a hard product product and program to learn. And uh and I walked through uh my first VA construction of permalo and I was like, wow, I live here in a military community. This is it for me, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna learn this, I'm gonna be the best one around uh here doing it. And so that's what I've done, you know, and I think out of the 51 I've closed so far, probably 40 of them or so are construction loans.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

That's amazing. That's amazing. And it's a uh it is it's very difficult to compete against somebody uh who knows what they want, who is very, very clear, acts with that intention, and you you do a you do a great, great job of that. Now what's what's the name of the nonprofit?

SPEAKER_00 23:32

So the nonprofit's name is Whatever It Takes, Addiction Prevention, and the reason that I named it that is because at my lowest point in life and out of desperation uh in my dad's kitchen when I was a fully grown man, I wrote on his dry race board, Whatever it takes, I want to live. And that's exactly how I felt that moment, and that's what I apply to life every single day now. Whatever it takes, I'm gonna be successful.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Whatever you know, that that's you you actually went exactly where I wanted you to because I I I knew that was the name of it. But you you just said I went to all the vacant lots, I did this, I did that, and I'm sitting there thinking, you're doing whatever it takes to win. And and that mentality, you can't lose with that, dude. You can't lose. So I I'm very proud of that. Now let's talk about this. Um we talk often here about you doing the activities, you build your business up, uh, you manage your finances, and then you're able to have an impact. One of the things that we don't talk about, uh that that I love about what you do, is you looked at your struggles, you overcame them by doing whatever it takes. But the impact now with you and your dad, talk about what the nonprofit is and and what you guys are doing. I think I think that is incredible.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Yeah, no, I appreciate you bringing that up. I try to stay as humble as possible with this, and and it's taken me a long time to share with my partners and business about what I actually do. Um, but whenever I'm asked about it, I share about it. So here it is. So we've got the nonprofit called Whatever It Takes Addiction Prevention, and we exist to deliver high impact prevention programs to uh all the high schools across the state of Alabama, grade six through twelve. There is a law that was passed um 2024 called the Price Hornsby Act, and it mandates that all sixth through twelfth grade um schools have to have at least one fentanyl education prevention assembly a year. So what we do is we go, I share my experience, strength, and hope, and how little decisions ended up taking me to the deepest, darkest uh you know, points in my life, and my dad comes in and he shares from a parent's perspective how horrible it is to watch a loved one go through that. So there's the kids are captivated by it. You can hear a you can hear a pin drop in that room whenever we go and share. Like you would think that kids would be loud and um I don't know, just just not really keyed up and listening in, and they do every single time all the teachers are like, Holy cow, this, you know, this has been the most successful assembly we've had in a long time with this group of students. Like you you really got their attention. And I always, always, always have these kids walk up afterwards, and somebody will say, My brother, you know, just passed away from a fentanyl uh overdose, or my friends are starting to do this, or my my mom is battling with alcoholism. What you know, what do we do? We always direct them to the guidance counselors, but pretty much what I do is I go out and I do mortgage lending to fund the kingdom work, which is I feel like the nonprofit is the kingdom work. And uh it's it's been amazing. We've been able to talk to 20,000 students at this point in time, and we're expanding into different states, and God's just opening up door after door after door. It's like miracle after miracle, you know, and I I'm just blessed. Yeah. To say the least.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

And and and what I'm gonna do is in the in the show notes, I'm going to have a link to that uh nonprofit if you're good with that. Uh so folks that want to want to donate can do that. One of one of the things you cannot measure. I mean, think about it. With twenty, let's just say twenty thousand students you talk to. Um you don't know if it's one or if it's five thousand that were given the opportunity uh to make a decision and they chose the right decision because of something you said. But what I can guarantee you is they're out there and you've had an impact. Uh, and I I think it's your story is amazing, uh, where you came from, your your professional story is just as amazing, dude. I love it. I'm proud of it. You know that. Uh and and I'm excited to see where where things continue to go for you. But I just want to tell you uh thank you. And uh you never know how big of an impact you're gonna have on people listening to this. So I just want to tell you thank you for taking some time with me, and I am proud of you, dude.

SPEAKER_00 28:28

Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to uh to get on here and and talk with you. It's been amazing.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

Yeah. And I think I'm gonna be with you next week. Are you in Charlotte next week?

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Yes, sir. I'm looking forward to it, brother. Looking forward to it. Yes, sir. All right, man. Thank you. All right, I'll see you up there next week. All right, buddy. Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

Bye. Everybody, thank you so much for listening to the Finding Your Inner Gator podcast. You know, if today's episode helped you, share it with someone who needs to hear this message. Remember, greatness is achieved through discipline, intentional action, and optimizing the relationships around you. I look forward to getting with you next week. Now, go Gatorize your day.