#18: Stop Scattering Your Attention

Have you ever reached the end of the day feeling busy, but still disconnected from what actually matters?

In this week’s episode of The NovaCo Podcast, April Nova Scipio continues our May series, Focus, with a conversation about distraction, overcommitment, and protecting your attention in a noisy world.

Because focus isn’t just about managing your time. It’s about being intentional with what has access to your attention.

If your mind has felt scattered, your priorities unclear, or your days overloaded, this episode will help you slow down, realign, and release what no longer belongs in this season.

In this episode, we talk about:

•  Why scattered attention creates instability 
•  The hidden cost of distraction 
•  How overcommitment drains your focus 
•  Why boundaries are necessary for alignment 
•  Practical ways to protect what matters most 

You do not need to give your attention to everything. And you do not have to carry what God never assigned to you.

This is your invitation to simplify, refocus, and move forward with intention.

📖 Key Scripture:
James 1:8 (NLT)
“Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”

✨ Next Step:

If you’re ready to continue this journey with support and community, join the Nova Community—a faith-filled space for women learning to live with clarity, peace, and faith-first rhythms

👉 Learn more at https://thenovacompany.org

✨ Private Mentorship Community:

If you are interested in applying to join my private mentorship community, email me: april@thenovacompany.org

✨ novaRetreat: 3rd Annual Dream with God Retreat

A Spirit-led weekend for women ready to abide deeply, align intentionally, & courageously advance as God reveals what’s next.

👉 Learn more at https://www.thenovacompany.org/novaretreat 

Subscribe to The NovaCo Podcast and share this episode with a friend who’s stepping into a new season.

🎸 Intro music produced by Cory Valjien. https://spotify.link/Ot87eEITRDb

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We all have a lot going on. So it's not that we have the time, but we have to make the time. It's like because this assignment is waiting, I'm going to make time to work on it, to develop in it, to fulfill it, to execute it, right? And so we're saying today, listen, I can't be distracted. The assignment is too great. It's too expensive to be distracted. Welcome back to the NovaCo podcast. This is a faith-built lifestyle podcast for women who desire clarity, peace, and alignment in their lives every day. I am your host, April Nova Sipio, and I'm so excited that you're here. If you are brand new to the podcast, I want to welcome you, not just to the podcast, but I want to welcome you, invite you into our community. We are Nova Community. We are a group of women. We are building lives rooted in the truth of God's word. We know who we are in Christ and we are creating those rhythms that support how we live. So excited that you are here. You were in the right place all month long. We are talking about focus, being focused. When I was praying, just into you know what we should focus on for the month of May, God really made it clear that, you know, we've done a lot of great things this year so far, but we have a lot going on. This is a busy time of year for a lot of people for a lot of different reasons. And life can be so busy that we lose focus to the things that God has told us to do. And so we're kind of just dialing in on what God said so that we can follow through and execute. And if you missed last week, go back and listen. We talked about hearing clearly. That is so key. If we're going to focus on what God has told us, we have to know what He's told us. So last week was all about hearing God clearly. If you missed it, go listen and share it out with a friend. Okay. Help me spread this message of hope and encouragement. But today, you guys, get your journal. Today, we are going to be talking about attention, how we have to stop scattering our attention. There are a lot of things that are fighting for our attention, right? And as we go through our lives and we produce what God is calling us to produce and fulfill our assignments, a lot of times we think, man, I need more time. And let me just be the first to say, I have said that countless times. I said that just this week. Okay. So I'm talking to myself today, too, you guys. We sometimes believe, man, I just need more time. When most of the time, it's just that we need more alignment. Because when we scatter our attention, it's going to always produce scatter results. And when we focus, right, focus requires us to decide what actually matters. And so that's where we're going to start today. There's nothing more frustrating for me than being busy all day long, and I'm doing busy in air quotes. But then at the end, at the end of the day, I'm like, man, I feel scattered. Did I even do anything today? Why I worked all day and my to-do list is still crazy. Okay. Who who can relate? I know, like, I know you can relate. And what I've realized is that doesn't happen because I'm lazy. That doesn't happen because I don't care. A lot of times it's just that my attention is divided. And so I want to help us out this week, right? We know when God speaks to us, we need to do it. But what do we actually do? It's a difference of I know I need to do this, right? Yes, God, I hear you. I need to write that book. I need to start that business. I need to reach out to that friend. We know what we need to do. But what are we actually doing after he speaks? I want to dial in on that today because clarity means nothing if your attention is still scattered. James chapter one, beginning in verse five, I'm going to read verses five through eight. It says, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver. For a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they're unstable in everything they do. Man. Verse 8, y'all. I'm going to read that again. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. This scripture just points to the fact that any kind of division leads to instability. So if our attention is divided, then our results are going to be unstable, right? It's about instability. It's not that we have a lack of effort, it's not that we have a lack of desire. It is simply the division that's the issue. And a lot of us are trying to move forward while still giving our attention to things that God never told us to carry. So here's the first thought I want you to write down in your journal today. There are too many yeses, too many directions, too many open loops, right? Every single time we give someone a yes, that requires our attention. And if God didn't assign it to us, then that means it's pulling us away from what truly matters. Sometimes we say yes to things out of obligation, right? Sometimes we keep things going that definitely should have ended. And we're giving our attention to things that don't even align anymore. They don't align with what God told us. They don't align with, you know, the things that are our current priorities. They don't align with the vision that's in our hearts. We're just saying yes because it's what we've always done. But I just want to encourage you today, we're going to unsubscribe from overwhelm by unsubscribing from overcommitment. We're not going to overcommit ourselves this month because we desire to stay focused. The second thought I want you to write down in your journal is that distraction is expensive. Distraction is expensive. I want to read Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Now, hear me. Not everything is sin, but everything has a weight. And what has your attention has your direction. So what are the things that were that are weighty that are care that we're carrying that we don't need to? And it doesn't mean, you know, you're carrying some big thing, a traumatic thing, a monumental, life-changing thing. Now, there are times when we are carrying those and we have to go to the Lord with those because they can trip us up because they're just weighty, and we need that, we need the Holy Spirit to come in and just really help us navigate through some hard things. I'm not referring to that. I'm referring to the weighty things. When I say weighty, we're giving more weight to them than we're giving to the weight of the assignment. For example, constantly checking our phones, um, comparing ourselves when we're scrolling, trying to do everything at once, when our minds are mentally cluttered, right? We're giving weight to things that we shouldn't give weight to, right? And here's the thing, this is why it's so tricky, because it's not like we lose all of our focus at one time. What happens is we lose it in small moments where our attention just drifts. And then before we know it, we're way off track, right? It might start off as, oh, I'm just gonna, I'm just a little bit distracted today, then the next day, because we aren't realigning and really focusing in over time as we are distracted day after day after day after day. Now we wake up and say, Man, how did I get so far from the goal? So everything has a weight. What are you giving weight to in your lives? Because the thing that you get that the thing that carries weight, that's a thing that really needs your attention, right? For example, the weight of you know, this call that God has in your life, right? When God gives you a call, it's weighty. Not because you're trying to do it on your own, but you just recognize, like, wow, like this is important. So because it's important, I'm gonna give my attention to it. I'm probably gonna butcher the quote. I should have looked it up before I started the episode, but it's just coming to mind right now. But it's like, you know, what's important to you, that's where your attention is, or that's what you make time for. You know, a lot of times we don't necessarily have the time per se, because we all have a lot going on. So it's not that we have the time, but we have to make the time. It's like because this assignment is waiting, I'm gonna make time to work on it, to develop in it, to fulfill it, to execute it, right? And so we're saying today, listen, I can't be distracted. The assignment is too great, it's too expensive to be distracted. All right, third point I want you to write down in your journal is this focus requires boundaries. Focus requires boundaries. Do we even know what they are? Or do we know what they are but completely ignore them? Right? Listen, the reason why boundaries are required, the reason why boundaries are important is because we can't stay focused on what God said if we continue to give our attention to everything else. So we have to have time boundaries. We have to, you know, say, I'm gonna work on these things for this amount of time. I'm not gonna work on these things for this amount of time, right? It can go either way. Sometimes we have to carve in the time to do the thing. Sometimes we have to block the time because other things are fighting for the time, right? We have to have time boundaries, we also have to have emotional boundaries. Sometimes people are draining and they mean well, right? We love them, but some people just require more than others, and we have to be wise in you know how much access we're allowing people to have to us if they're emotionally draining. So we have to set those emotional boundaries. Another example would be digital boundaries, like for real, for real, y'all. We have to make sure we're not allowing our phones and computers to distract us. My phone has different settings on there, I think it's called, or like, oh, it's called different focuses. Come on, come on, with the the iPhone, it's called focuses. So when I go to my settings, I can change my focus to um like do not disturb or a work setting. And based on what I set it to, there are different boundaries in place. So when I have my phone on do not disturb, then no one, no notifications are happening and no one's getting through unless it's like my kids or my husband, right? So I have to have those digital boundaries in place to protect my time. Another example would be a relational boundary. Like, who am I connected to? Who are the five people I'm hanging around the most? Are they people who truly love, support, and respect me and want me to become better every single day? Like they have my best interest in mind. So when you think about, you know, the boundaries that you need to put in place, here's a simple question you can ask yourself. What needs to be removed, reduced, or released from your attention? What needs to be removed, reduced, or released from your attention? Now, I can assure you guys when the Lord puts something on my heart to share with y'all, it's because he is wanting me to work it out in my own life. So he's been reminding me like April, you're doing too much. Like, time out. Let's focus on what I'm telling you to do, the most important things, and work on that. And the minute I made that switch, the overwhelm was gone. The minute I made that switch, I felt 100% confident that I was in alignment. And so I want to encourage you today, like maybe if you just pause and just ask the Lord, number one, what you should be focusing on. But then number two, make sure that your attention is not scattered. Make sure your attention is on what he told you. This week in your journal, here are some journal prompts you can go through. Where is my attention currently scattered? What has God not asked me to give my attention to? What do I need to release this week? Where is my attention currently scattered? What has God not asked me to give my attention to? And what do I need to release this week? So it's gonna be a good week. We're gonna get our attention on the right things, we're gonna execute on what God told us, and it's gonna be amazing. Here is our declaration today. I want you to repeat after me. My attention is aligned. I release what is not assigned to me. I focus on what God has called me to do. That's what we're speaking over ourselves this week. I want to pray for us today. I know God is gonna help us just get clear and what we need to release. He's gonna help us with our attention this week. Our attention is not gonna be divided, it's gonna be on the right things, and we're gonna have peace. We're gonna have peace as we let go of some things. So, Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for reminding us, Lord, that what we put our attention on matters. So, Father, after we hear you, Lord, we know that is where our attention needs to be. Forgive us when our attention has been divided, it has been scattered. Father, we no longer want the scattered results. We want focused, clear, and productive and fruitful results in our lives. And we know that requires the things that you have told us to do. It requires our full attention on that. And so, God, today we declare that our attention is aligned. And by faith, Lord, we release all the things not assigned to us. Father, thank you for loving us. Thank you for being so patient with us and kind. Father, we're excited about this week ahead and the rest of the month, really, Lord, as we are getting back in alignment and making sure we're focused on the right things. We love you, we honor you, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You guys, thanks for hanging out with me. This week, we are not trying to do more, okay? Don't try to do more. Just pay attention to what matters, release what doesn't, okay? That's how we're gonna protect our focus this week. And I'm excited. Now, next week, you don't want to miss it because we're gonna talk about how to build rhythms that protect your focus. So I'm excited about that. So make sure you're subscribed to this podcast so you don't miss it. And don't forget, retreat is coming up, Labor Day weekend. So excited about that. If you want more info about retreat, you can click on the link in the show notes of this episode. We would love to have you. Space is limited, but man, we have an amazing weekend every single year. This is our third annual Dream with God prayer retreat, and I'm just excited. So pray about going. Maybe you aren't able to go this year, but you want to sponsor someone else to go. There's room and space for you to do that as well. So I love you with the love of Christ, and I'll see you inside Nova Community. Have an amazing rest of your day. This is April Nova Scipio, and this is how we live faith first, rhythm always. Be blessed.