The way I think of what you wrote, it’s simple. The more things one has to think about, or worry about, or be concerned about, this decreases that person’s ability to do “the basics”.
Eventually, all those new “tools” and “ability” will be learned, and the person will do them naturally, freeing up more “thought time” to be concerned with what I might call “the basics”.
New tools require time to learn them. Or, crudely put, if I’m putting all my concentration into holding the camera/lens still, that detracts from my time/ability to optimize the best image to capture. Or, more specifically, if I am putting all my effort to keep a bird within the image frame, I’m doing a lesser job of capturing the best instant (which I resolve now by holding in the shutter button, hoping some of the images I’m capturing will be something I like).
I like tools that do a better job of automatically doing more of what I’m supposed to do, such as better/more accurate focusing. Those tools amplify my ability to get a good image. But were I to buy a 600 or 800mm lens, making the subject bigger (a good thing) there is a very good chance I won’t even get the subject completely captured).
Or, a silly comparison, if I have 100 units of ability to capture a good image, I want to use as much/many as possible on the most important things. As much as possible, I’d like to “automate”, so I don’t need to waste time thinking about it, and instead use that time trying to get a good (interesting, composed, sharp, colorful) image.
Also, right now I’m going outside trying to capture images of any birds that get near me. This coming weekend, or the next, I will go to one of the bird watching sites near me, where I ought to have hundreds of opportunities to capture something good (if I do my part correctly).
I’m guessing I only need one piece of new hardware, a good monopod.
@wolfgang and @Joanna have pointed out that I’m getting blurry images because I am not capturing scenes with enough pixels. Of course they are right, but it’s a bigger problem that I wasn’t “freezing” the image. So, for my next opportunity, I need to work on both concerns.
I’m not sure how to respond to this. I think it depends a lot on how good a person’s “stuff” is. I guess that depends on what is being photographed. That’s a dangerous thought though, as I suspect many of us can’t afford the camera gear they wish they had.
This of course leads back to the question of “what is it a person want’s to photograph”.
…along with “how good a photograph does the person want to take?”
How many of us are capable of taking this photo that @Joanna posted, let alone knowing the “trick” she used to be able to capture it?
One last thing - I was very happy with my Pelican photo, but got to read here:
It’s not an answer, but my thoughts are “do the best you can with what you’ve got”. …along with knowing how the photo will be used, which in my case is often simply “e-mail”. But I won’t stop until I get photos like this that @Joanna doesn’t complain about. 
https://forum.dxo.com/uploads/default/original/3X/1/c/1cfb52fb9295ac6471e1ac810f6fba1cfbf46b29.jpeg
