Quality is indeed the standard here on SteemIt.
Don't let those few crappy posts that make money fool you.
The people who make good money with their posts are the ones that have been putting in a lot of time and hard work by creating original, quality content. They've earned the respect of the community, and the only way to achieve that is by being consistent and being original.

You're better off posting 1 quality article every 2 or 3 days, than when you post 3 low-quality, copy/paste posts a day. Sometimes it takes me hours to write a single article. And then I'm jealous of the few that are making money by simply copy/pasting a Youtube video, which takes about 5 minutes to do.
But I know that in the long run, those people won't earn any respect from the community, so it is unlikely that they'll be able to keep it up. My approach may be slower, and less rewarding in the beginning, but it will take me further in the long run.

So it's indeed important to stay true to yourself and put in the effort to create quality content.

That's already a very important lesson you've learned! Way to go!!!!