To be blunt OP doesn't think much of us so I'll give you my answer. These are the two convictions I have: 1.) Your interactions should provide value to other people, so they should be both self serving but also serving to others, and; 2.) You should have no fear whatsoever. Fear drives bad interactions.
I don't think less of anyone on this forum, not even people I have had beef with. However, since posting the thread, my life has been busy and involved a ton of traveling and other stuff to where I have barely had the chance to get back to people.
To answer your question around the essence of being socially adjusted and what it means, you kind of nailed it, value is everything.
Now let me offer you concrete examples.
I had one wing who did really good with cold approach and now can rely on social circle game as well. Whenever we met, I always felt like I could just BE in front of him. The guy never judged me even when I was drunk and said some stupid stuff. More of all, he made me feel at ease when I was around him. We would hang out and I always felt like I could say anything and do anything in front of him that would make me avoid judgment.
When he interacted with women, it was a similar vibe. Women could just BE in front of him. Even girls from judgmental social circles slept with him because they felt that he could keep it secret. Most of all, he brought a great energy to all social interactions, you felt uplifted by just interacting with him. If he had bad days or some stuff going on, he fixed that first before coming out. If he approached women, they felt like they could leave at anytime without getting backlash.
Now let me offer you an opposite example.
I used to wing with this guy who was very reactive and toxic. Not only was he reactive and toxic, he was woefully unaware of how he came across. The guy would do an approach, a girl would tell him he is taken, and he would ask how she met her BF and she would answer social circle or work. Then the guy would talk to me during the entirety of that session about how the girl told him that and repeatedly say "see, they aren't meeting their man through this, all of them through social circle and cold approach". Like literally, the whole freaking session was about just that and I felt DRAINED even winging with this guy.
Then when he did approach, he would run right in front of the girl and block her path. The guy also dressed like crap, like he wore a blue collared shirt with blue shorts once to a bar.
But again, it is talking about the vibe of the latter guy. He had no idea how he was coming across to me when he constantly complained during the whole session. Even I felt drained being near that guy and I wanted nothing to do with him. No matter how many approaches he does, he will not get good at this.