Instead of thinking about the total number of people you might date, consider how long you’re likely to actively look for a partner. Apply the rule of 37 percent to that time period. In the book Algorithms to Live By, authors Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths discuss a single man who wants to get married. “Assuming that his search would run from ages eighteen to forty, the 37% rule gave age 26.1 as the point at which to switch from looking to leaping.” That means that by the age of 26.1, he should set a meaningful benchmark from his first 8.1 years of dating—that is, the single best person
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