While statistics on a global basis are hard to come by, the US Census Department reports that in the United States, there are as many as 100 million single adults. In a country with approximately 300 million people that is a very big number. Now there is good and bad news. The good news is that since there are so many single people out there, it should be easy to find someone. The bad news is that if there are so many single people, something must be wrong. We all know that half the marriages in the United States fail. Generally speaking, divorced people become more cautious in their next relationship, if at all they decide to have one after a divorce. Then with so much bad news about failing relationships and almost everyone having friends and family members in bad relationships, the younger people today are more skeptical of romantic relationships.  Psychologists also agree that children raised by single parent or in families with dysfunctional relationship among parents or other immediate relatives tend to have cynical attitudes about relationships.  (Related article:  How to minimize risk of divorce:  Divorces hurt kids more than adults)

No wonder that we have some major problems in the American society and our research shows that a large number of single people do not take all the right steps to find the person that will give them long-term happiness. Based on our experience, here are some of the things that people are not doing right to find love:  

1. Waiting for luck to strike
Finding love is like finding a dream job. If you do not try hard to find the employer that will let you do what you really want to do, you will end up being in the first job you find and will hate it the rest of your life. You might even be fired for not performing since you will not enjoy it and will not do your best. Our research shows that so many people just wait for their dream boy or dream girl to come along without them even trying.  (Related article:  How to minimize babe shock factor?)

2. Trying to get it on the cheap
We are continuously shocked to hear from people who seem very committed to finding love but then do not want to spend a penny. Just sitting at home is not going to get you too far. Not only you have to have stylish clothes and anything else that you need to make a favorable impression on a date, you also need to budget something for a date and subsequent engagements. But before you even get a date, you must plan on spending money to find one. If you believe in in-person approach (something that we highly recommend but is not enough by itself), you will need to go to parties, participate in voluntary activities, and even visit bars - all of these will cost varying amounts of money. We also recommend that you try online options but be warned that any service that is free, you are very likely to meet other free-riders. So these are other people who are not committed either and while you might get lucky sometimes, it is not the way to find meaningful relationships. We suggest websites that are not particularly expensive, and also have free trial periods so that you can check out the system before you commit to spending any significant dollars.  If you are interested in a specific type of person (e.g. race, political orientation, location, etc.), then you must try specialty websites.  MYNIPPON has conducted a thorough review of popular dating websites here and tips on writing a powerful personal ads are here.  If you are on a tight budget, you have cheap online dating options too.