I appreciate your point, but if there is a basic agreement the elements are all there, then:
Where you are - OK I was taught PLOG/map/stopwatch during the PPL for VFR flight. It has to date never let me down. Not withstanding I also carry a moving map GPS and a backup GPS. I've never found navigating by map in the least bit difficult on VFR pleasure flights. Do the calculations, fly the heading, check the time. If it did go very wrong I would be outside my comfort zone, hence why I have a moving map GPS running in the cockpit too with the route loaded. I also do most of my VFR flights on a sim with photoscenery. Helps me know what to expect on the actual flight. If it's still not working VOR/VOR VOR/DME cuts, still no good? - call ATC and say I AM LOST! There really is not a lot of excuse for not knowing where one is.
I would argue that is better SA than pilot X I fly with who never plans a flight or talks to ATC and wanders around in circles saying how much fun it is to just go 'visit' places and always argues regarding visual ground references. (all the time I know where I am because I have the map and GPS - I only get assertive when I know we will bust airspace and otherwise just let pilot X get on with 'teaching' their far superior navigation techniques)
What you are doing - well it doesn't hurt to remind oneself what stage of a flight one is in. FREDA checks etc, changing course, joining a traffic pattern.
Where are you going to be - PLOG/map/time and or moving map GPS
What you can do - this is one that made me rethink, I checked all local airfields and found two not marked on my CAA map, a farm strip and a small private aerodrome. Could be plenty more to add to the list, VOR radials, NDB frequency to nearest airfield for each leg etc.
What others are doing - listen into at least, preferably get a service from ATC - look out of the cockpit. OK we know there are limitations but not doing those things doesn't improve the situation. Knowing where to look when given traffic information or hearing calls took me time, I'm still working on it, but I learnt pretty quickly if I didn't see it, it's because it is somewhere else, so look around. Still can't see it? Is it time to act and change altitude or heading?
I think from the basic list each point can be expanded in this way, from the above there could be further expansions and discussion.
In the end it all comes back to that one word Airmanship at the end of the day, good pilot SA is one of the requirements of good Airmanship. In my experience SA is like landing, it's hard for instructors to teach. They can say the right things but does it 'click' but perhaps with persistence an instructor can pass on the right attitude for future learning and as pilots we can question our SA rather than believing we know it all.