In my experience, the #1 worst thing you can do to fail is to give up before you gain traction. Hive requires a lot of frontloaded work before you can really see results.

So, you need to write meaningful posts, comments, and replies, and really engage within communities (usually with no rewards) in the beginning to get noticed on the platform. It's only after you have done that and accumulated enough stake that you will see your daily activities generate more upvotes, reblogs, and rewards.

Unfortunately, a lot of people quit before they can get to that stage. I don't remember where I read this, but I remember someone saying you should first write 20 posts, 100 comments, etc. (not the exact numbers) before gauging your success/failure. But the point is, you'll need to put in the work before you can reap the rewards, otherwise you're just setting yourself to fail in the platform.