The Tiniest Rule Every Couple Should Follow
Small acts compound. This micro-shift can radically strengthen your connection, intimacy and communication.
By Mark Travers, Ph.D. | December 14, 2025
Relationship change, funnily enough, is often approached the same way people approach New Year's resolutions. People make big promises in service of their relationship that often require a 180 degree transformation. And just like New Year's resolutions, their lofty relationship goals are often abandoned mid-way and set aside to gather dust as mementos of what could have been.
But the more sustainable truth is one that often gets overshadowed in a culture obsessed with "big" love and dramatic breakthroughs.
Change, especially relational change, almost never comes with sweeping gestures. It's a cumulative result of micro-behaviours, like the small adjustments we make in how we listen, respond, interpret and show up for our partner. And when these adjustments compound, even at a rate as modest as 1% a day, relationships shift in significantly measurable ways.
The 1% rule stands for the incremental effort that, when repeated consistently, generates disproportionate emotional payoff.
How The 1% Rule Of Relationships Work?
The human brain resists large demands but cooperates readily with small, manageable ones. When the goal is too big, motivation collapses under the weight of expectation. But when the goal is tiny, the nervous system relaxes long enough to try.
When a relational goal feels too big or too inauthentic, the nervous system can perceive it as a heavy load and shut down in response. But just one small, manageable adjustment, slides under the brain's threat radar. A 1% shift is just tiny enough for the system to cooperate rather than resist, allowing real change to take root.
Here are the two biggest barriers to change that this model bypasses:
- It prevents triggering threat responses. When partners vow to "fix everything," the pressure is so high that the brain might interpret the task as unsafe. This leads to defensiveness, avoidance and, sometimes, a sense of paralysis. But a 1% effort, or even just progressing 1% toward the goal, falls well within the window of tolerance and feels safe and doable. Safe.
- It creates positive behavioural loops. Behavioral psychology sometimes views relationships as systems. What one person does influences the other's response, which in turn influences the first person's next behaviour. A small positive shift often sets off a cascade of micro-improvements. Think of it as emotional compounding interest: one tiny deposit a day becomes a substantial investment over time.
Here are four 1% shifts that can meaningfully transform your relational climate.
1. The 1% Shift In Empathy
This shift moves you from assumption to perspective-taking. Remember, empathy isn't, and can never be, a grand emotional performance. In practice, it's more like a humble willingness to consider what someone else might be feeling before you react.
Empathy flourishes in relationships that feel safe and non-judgmental, and it grows in tiny increments with repeated practice. A large meta-analysis of over 24,000 participants' data found that people with more secure attachment consistently show higher empathy, while avoidant attachment predicts lower empathy.
If your relationship is already safe, there is no harm in adding another layer of empathy. And if you think you or your partner have an insecure attachment tendency, then adding 1% more empathy can be your path of least resistance. Here are a few ways you can go about it:
- Asking yourself, "What might have made them respond that way today?"
- Replacing a snap judgment with a simple check-in
- Using one sentence to acknowledge their experience before advocating for your own
2. The 1% Shift In Patience
Behaviourally, patience is a practical and easily trainable skill. It's the ability to tolerate a small surge of emotional discomfort long enough to choose a better response. And even the tiniest delay matters.
A 1% increase in patience might look almost surprisingly small on the surface:
- Taking one breath before interrupting
- Pausing for ten seconds before replying defensively
- Choosing to postpone a hard conversation until both of you are regulated
But these micro-pauses work wonders because they create a brief window in which the brain can shift out of automatic reaction and into deliberate regulation.
A review of studies shows that even very short moments of mindful attention like noticing the breath or interrupting a reflexive response, engage both top-down and bottom-up emotion-regulation systems. These mechanisms activate the prefrontal cortex (which supports reasoning and perspective) and dampen amygdala-driven reactivity. So, what looks like a tiny has a disproportionately positive impact: it buys your brain the time it needs to choose connection over impulse.
With repeated practice, these seconds-long acts of micro-regulation accumulate to disrupt conflict patterns, reduce unnecessary escalation and strengthen their capacity to stay anchored during emotionally charged moments.
3. The 1% Shift in Curiosity
If empathy is understanding someone's experience, curiosity is the desire to keep understanding and uncovering new layers of it. It's what fuels the relationship dynamic and makes sure that both partners have permission to be who they are at all times, imperfections and all.
A 1% curiosity shift might be as simple as asking just one more question in your day to day conversations:
- "What did that mean for you?"
- "I want to understand your perspective a bit better"
- "Tell me more about what you were thinking then"
A recent study published in Journal of Adolescent Research found that interpersonal curiosity, especially curiosity directed toward another person's inner world, was strongly linked to better social and emotional skills and greater well-being. Curiosity strengthens emotional attunement, reduces the possibility of misinterpretation and enhances relational closeness.
Additionally, a lot of times we either assume or project what we are feeling and what we know based on past data. This is where a seemingly small follow-up question invites real understanding. These small acts of "I want to know you better" accumulate, shifting the tone of an entire week, and eventually, the emotional climate of a relationship.
One more question a day might be all it takes to start transforming how you connect.
If you're wondering how you can get started on this shift, try the below mentioned nightly reflection. It's rooted in metacognition, which, according to research, strengthens behavioural follow-through. Before bed, ask two questions:
- "Where did I offer a 1% shift today?" Maybe you listened longer, asked one extra question or responded with slightly less irritation. Naming the behaviour reinforces it neurologically.
- "Where can I offer 1% more tomorrow?" Look for moments that can hurt your relationship and turn them around. For instance, if your partner struggles to be chirpy or alert in the morning, make them their coffee and then give them some space. This tiny change could be the foundation of a good relationship day.
This creates a gentle feedback loop. Consistent micro-adjustment means no performance pressure, and no guilt.
Did you give your relationship 1% extra today? Take the Relationship Satisfaction Scale to find out.
A similar version of this article can also be found on Forbes.com, here.