Lose the battle to WIN the War

How to lose the battle and still WIN the war……

This is something I really need to learn how to do.  I know that I have trouble losing at anything and I will exhaust myself attempting to win every time, rather than focus on the important stuff.  I need to learn to focus on letting go of these little mishaps of the day and focus on the big things that were accomplished. 

I want our son to do well in school, like he has in the past however, it seems that every little quiz or anything he takes he is rushing through and making silly mistakes.  I get upset with him about this which does not really accomplish anything.  If I am upset with him then he goes out of his way to be defiant to get back at me for being upset with him. 

I have tried explaining to him that it is easier to do well on the little things, rather than have to do great on the big things.  I cannot for the life of me understand why this is such a foreign concept to him.  He feels like all that matters is test scores.  That quizzes and homework assignments are simply busy work.  Furthermore it is busy work that he cannot be bothered with. 

I found a sign the other day that really summed up what our conversations are like

This might just be our new family t shirt motto