Early in my tenure at my last job in high-tech, I noticed how often the word came up in routine use. I made myself a promise that I would not use it at all: I would not say “It’s important that we make the go/no-go call on this without delay”; “It’s important that we deliver this by Tuesday”; “We have [or “need”] to meet to talk about several important topics”; “The important things on today’s agenda are—”; and so on—much less “It’s a privilege to be working on such an important project.” I would work around it, I would substitute words like “preferable” and “desirable,” and I would even halt my speech midsentence before uttering the word “important.”
Because NOTHING we did was important. Not really. I didn’t even believe that other people believed it when they said it, although I’d guess they thought they did. We all have to con ourselves a little to do soulless jobs like that.
I believed their jobs were important to them, and of course their families and personal priorities and so on, but I always thought that if any of them was under oath they would have to admit that what we were doing did not have the characteristics of importance at all.
Got through all ten years there without saying it out loud. That makes me feel pretty pleased with myself.