Things to Finish - How to customize

Summary:

I have a requirement to show the "Things to Finish" above the menu. Also, the cards are taking up lots of space, would like to understand how to reduce them so that users are not required to scroll down to see the Action menu (Me, My Team ....)

Content (required):

I have a requirement to show the "Things to Finish" above the menu. Also, the cards are taking up lots of space, would like to understand how to reduce them so that users are not required to scroll down to see the Action menu (Me, My Team ....). I am not able to change the back ground color as shown in the screenshot.