I'm not so sure about the efficacy of nice/awesome tools over regular ones. I have an expensive-ass iPad Pro which is marginally better for sketching and taking notes than my ol' paper notebook. I highly doubt it's $800 better at its primary note-taking function. I have a Ducky Zero mechanical keyboard - I think it helps here and there with RSI, but not much better than a regular keyboard. I read Marie Kondo while packing up to move homes. Don't read it - it's basically someone nerding out about organizing her stuff around the simple-ass dictum of keeping the things that make you happy while ditching the things that don't. She for example totally digs her clothes to be folded in a way that they can stand somewhat vertically. It makes her happy. I tried it - and I decided I just don't give a crap. But I do give a crap about having a clicky keyboard, and a fancy iPad'n'keyboard and alllll the other tech that I keep buying to build my Perfect Tech Setup. She doesn't care about that, and that's okay, because stuff is there to make you happy in doing what you do. I think we understimate the degree to which having tools that make you happy can really make one happier.I think we underestimate the degree to which having tools that make you happy can really make doing a job better.
I think we're saying the same (or at least similar) things. There's two elements to the competency angle, though. First, if you have something that makes doing something enjoyable, you're more likely to do that thing. I resisted drawing for a long time, and part of the reason I got an iPad Pro was because I knew that would make me more likely to actually practice. And it worked! It wasn't the only reason I got motivated, but it helped. The other is, related to this, we're more likely to put in the work the less it feels like work. We're very good at finding shortcuts in doing things that we don't want to do, but something that makes doing whatever it is more pleasant acts in the opposite direction. Simply put, easier things are less frustrating.