My Patch shows everything assigned to you — Seeds inside Gardens you belong to, Rhythms currently sitting on your shoulders, and personal Seeds you made just for yourself. My Patch vs. The Gardens covers the why. This article covers the how.
Two views, two moods
- List view sorts by due date and priority. Best when you've got coffee in hand and want to plough through.
- Board view groups Seeds into To do / Doing / Done. Best when you're context-switching across several projects and want to see what's where.
Swap between them with the toggle top-left. The choice is per-device, not per-Sanctuary, so your laptop and phone can disagree.
Filters that earn their keep
- By Garden — when you only want to see one project's worth of Seeds. Useful before a Garden meeting.
- Overdue only — the honest morning filter. Two minutes once or twice a week will save you from drift.
- Priority — high, medium, or low. We default Seeds to medium because most things are.
- Date range — useful for "what does next week look like?"
The "Just sprouted" moment
When you complete a Seed, it animates and lingers in the list for a few seconds before vanishing. This is intentional. It's a small dopamine hit that tells your brain "yes, that happened." Don't fight it. It's one of the few moments ARA insists on celebrating.
Personal Seeds
Plant a Seed without picking a Garden and it lands in My Patch as a personal item. No one else sees it. Useful for:
- Your half of a chore that the rotation doesn't cover
- "Remember to call Maria back"
- "Buy birthday card for Sam"
Personal Seeds don't show up in any Garden's Vitality score and don't notify anyone but you.
The one habit
Once a week — Sunday evening works for many — open My Patch in List view, filter to "overdue only", and either do them, reschedule them, or delete them. The third option is allowed. Some Seeds outlive their reason. Let them go.
For Seed mechanics — assignees, watering, subtasks — see Anatomy of a Seed.