What is sati (mindfulness) and vāyāma's (effort) relationship to anupādāna (non-clinging)?

It seems that often what one has difficulty with in attempting to hold onto some thing is some other which competes. Can what is effortful in attention be seen as a non-clinging to that which we don't want to attend to? In other words can what is effortful in attention be thought of as an excess of attachment? As if we were something sticky; is what is effortful in rightful adhering (to what is attended to) to be a matter of nonattachment? edit: To put it in Buddhist language is the vāyāma of sati anupādāna.