I would argue that personal effectiveness includes the life skill of being a character judge, and then having the courage to take action based on those judgements.
Ie, if you judge someone to be a dishonest time waster, then politely brush them off and don't have anything to do with them. This is true whether in a work situation or a social situation.
Taking it even further, it means leaving a job or an area if it dawns on you that you're surrounded by people who are either stupid or lazy and going nowhere.
As you say, life is short. Learning to sort the wheat from the chaff is a way of spending better time with more interesting people.
Ie, if you judge someone to be a dishonest time waster, then politely brush them off and don't have anything to do with them. This is true whether in a work situation or a social situation.
Taking it even further, it means leaving a job or an area if it dawns on you that you're surrounded by people who are either stupid or lazy and going nowhere.
As you say, life is short. Learning to sort the wheat from the chaff is a way of spending better time with more interesting people.