Understand directions.
Follow through on those directions.
The rest will come in time.

-Billy Hannah

Using the well documented phenomenon of loss aversion in the classroom could be a great way to motivate students for achievement. The theory is that people will work harder to keep a dollar than they will to earn a dollar. Applying this to points in class, you could award points to students ahead of time and only take points away for undesirable behavior or products.

When students get stuck on a homework assignment or homework problem:
If students cannot complete a homework problem because it is difficult, instead of quitting, they must write down three strategies they tried to work through the bump in the road, before giving up.