Interview with Jaime Marcos Redondo: oppositions and mental performance

Jaime Marcos Redondo He is a psychologist from Madrid with a long history of getting the most out of his patients and clients.

Master in Psychology of Physical Activity and Sport from the UAM, Jaime works as coordinator of sports projects in UPAD Psychology and CoachingTherefore, he has specialized in helping his clients achieve goals at the highest level of elite sport.

Jaime Marcos Redondo: discovering the role of the psychologist in the oppositions

Precisely this vocation to help other people achieve great goals has made Jaime Marcos Redondo a psychologist who, in recent years, has He has dedicated part of his time to the field of mental training in people who face oppositions.

In order to find out what this work consists of and also discover part of his way of assisting in these processes, we wanted to speak with Jaime in a relaxed way.

Bertrand Regader: How are preparing for competitive examinations and preparing for a sports competition based on physical effort similar?

Jaime Marcos Redondo: Precisely, in the

brain training. Despite being activities that involve very different behavioral performances, the underlying psychological mechanisms involved remain the same. Motivation, activation, concentration... are variables that affect any performance that involves displaying high performance.

Normally, when we think about what it means to sit for oppositions, the concept of "willpower" comes to mind. Isn't this concept too simplistic? What is behind the willpower?

All behavior, all effort that we carry out, can be explained through a very general mechanism: the administration of reinforcements. Willpower does not have a literal translation in technical terms, but its popular conception usually refers to the ability to postpone the immediate reinforcement by virtue of working on getting a larger one, but deferred, something very counterintuitive for these mechanisms.

In addition, it is important to work on the satisfaction and well-being that fulfilling those small goals that strengthen the routine produces us. Good habits and generating new beliefs and sensations are fundamental to working on willpower.

How can we prevent nerves and anxiety from becoming an added problem, instead of being a help to address the mistakes we make?

Activation is generally required for performance. The more activation, the more performance... up to a certain point, where if we over activate, the performance begins to decrease, and then the labels of nerves, anxiety appear...

It is about finding, for each person, that optimal state of activation in which the maximum performance and then learn relaxation or activation strategies to get to it when necessary. necessary.

And what about speed reading techniques? Do they help to perform better in theoretical exams?

Speed ​​reading, like all techniques, is applicable to what type of opponents. exist Personality traits that do that, such an active reading can saturate the reader, and there are others for whom a slow reading captures less attention.

In the end, the muscles that can be trained are attention and motivation and, from there, apply the most similar study techniques for the person in front of us.

How much time do you think it takes to learn to fully concentrate on the task that really matters, without giving in to distractions, both when studying and taking tests? When are the first results noticed?

There are so many variables involved in it that it is difficult to establish a certain period of time that can be generalized to the population. Normally, opponents have been studying all their lives and already have good concentration strategies when they come to us.

Optimization, on the other hand, is eternally progressive. At UPAD we work with tools that speed up the process so that learning is somehow faster, without losing any quality along the way.

As a psychologist, what do you think are the habits that most enhance mental performance when faced with the challenge of exams?

Having a marked routine that adapts to the personal needs of each opponent. To use a cliché, it is a long-distance race, and it is more sustainable if we find space for effective breaks and motivating activities for everyone.

It is a hard process, but not tortuous. Establish study hours, maintain a balanced diet (because we are partly what we eat) and performing physical activity will be essential to obtain greater guarantees of success in the face of oppositions.

And how can these habits be strengthened with the help of psychologists?

Little by little, through small short-term objectives that work as small steps that take us to our general goal. This allows us to always focus on the next step, knowing that if we always go up the next step, we will eventually reach the top.

In addition, the development of routines to work attention, generating good feelings and beliefs that support said objectives will be essential to reach the last step. Working with a psychologist will allow the opponent to learn all these tools that can make a difference on the day of the exam or tests.

Regarding the oppositions, do you think that the importance of mnemonic strategies is overestimated, which are only based on the storage of information when memorizing?

All resources that help are welcome. To become experts in a subject, the comprehensive study and the relationship of variables will always help more than meaningless memorization. To overcome an opposition, sometimes we talk about something else. Hence our work is essential.

Many times we receive opponents who use study strategies that do not suit their profile as a student. It is important first to know the opponent's needs, evaluating his abilities and then designing a plan. of action adapted to their capacities that allows them to face the opposition with the best guarantees of success possible.

I once again emphasize the idea that the mental factor can make a difference when it comes to achieving the goal set, hence the importance of working on it.