The more talented and focused somebody is, the less they need the “props”.
Abraham Lincoln wrote The Gettysburg Address on a piece of ordinary stationery that he had borrowed from the friend while staying in his house. James Joyce wrote with a simple pencil and notebook. Somebody else did the typing, but much later. Van Gogh rarely painted with more than six colours on his palette.
Which is why there are so many average authors with state-of-the-art laptops. Which is why there are so many awful photographers with state-of-the-art digital cameras. Which is why there are so many unremarkable painters with expensive studios in trendy areas. All hiding behind props and tech.
Keep asking the question, “Is this a prop?” about every aspect of your selling process, your business, your passion, your reason for being alive, etc., and go from there.
The more we ask, the better we get at spotting the props, the more quickly the props vanish. The next time you are devising a presentation or preparing to contribute to a key meeting, ask yourself a question – what should be the focus of my thinking here – props? Body language? Paraverbal? Word content? – I will explore that process in more depth later. Keep asking yourself – how much do I rely on “props”? And then ask yourself again.