The next time someone in your office tells you that you shouldn’t take a business issue personally, punch them in the face. Once they’ve gotten back to their feet, tell them that they shouldn’t take being punched in the face personally. Telling this person that being punched in the face shouldn't be taken personally makes about as much sense as what they told you.

Chances are you’re doing everything in your power to improve your career path and increase your standard of living. If that’s true, the best thing you could do is start taking everything at your work personally.

In my personal experience, all but one of my jobs has been created expressly for me. Only one promotion I ever received was a job that existed before I got it. Why? Because I take my success or failure personally. If the company is suffering or stagnating, there won’t be a lot of upward mobility for me, so I’m painfully aware that the company’s future success and my own are intertwined.

If one of my businesses has a disappointing quarter, I get mad, or sometimes sad, and then I pick myself up and figure out a way to get even. If someone were to pass me over for a promotion, I’d take it personally. If someone purchased my competitor's product instead of mine, I’d take it personally and I’d take the opportunity to learn how to ensure that it never, ever, happened again.

The bottom line? My work is a huge part of who I am. Not taking it personally just isn’t an option.

Most of us are at our jobs a minimum of 8 hours a day. That means that 1/3 of our personal time is spent as an employee (or employer). If failures or successes of the company roll right off of your back, you’re wasting a third of your life. If your boss thinks you’re lazy or wrong for a job and that doesn’t bother you, get another job. Give the success to someone who cares.

Taking your job personally can be an emotionally rattling experience full of ups and downs, but there’s no other way to live your career. If you can’t find a way to be elated by the highs and fired up by the lows, chances are someone will be telling you to not take it personally when you’re on your way out the door.