Agreed. I like the cut of your jib. IMHO denying orders to focus on what you're told rather than what you know is important is not only a hallmark to a good employee, nobody cares that you pissed off some random boss at work when you have something worthwhile on the resume (assuming you have a good reference though).
Working on what's important rather than what you're told to work on assumes that you know what's important and that no one else is working on the important project.
Saying "this project isn't important enough for someone like me" won't just annoy your manager. It'll annoy everyone, because someone else will have to pick up the work you dropped. You'll get the reputation for being awful to work with, and that is toxic to your career.
