Define "unrealistic criteria." I'm not challenging you, I'm truly curious.
I'll give you an example. Many years ago I worked for a small consulting company. The secretary/office-manager was a gorgeous woman in her late 20's. She had decided she was going to may a successful business owner. Nothing less would satisfy her. She had no interest in going out with somebody who was not wealthy.
Many years later I ran into her again. She was 40, still single, and bitter.
What I mean by realistic criteria is to be sure that the set of people who you are interested in, actually contains a significant number of guys who are actually interested in YOU
Guys get their "reality adjustment" fairly early in the game, because they are the ones that are supposed to take the initiative. If you ask out women who are way out of your league, you get immediate feedback real fast.
Women, on the other hand, can persist in the delusion that "Prince Charming is out there", and not allow reality to penetrate that for every real "Prince Charming", there's lots of women competing for him