Men and women are capable of having high, sometimes unreasonable standards. While there's nothing inherently wrong with this, the kind of partner that matches your high standards, is likely to have high standards of their own and they aren't necessarily looking for the same things.

My post will be about what I've experienced while dating women. I'm sure women can give their input about the equivalent problem on the opposite side.

Over the last few decades the standards of women have risen considerably, they're no longer willing to accept average men who do nothing more than provide financially. They want men that look good, that out earn them, that are well educated, that travel and are culturally and intellectually refined among other things. However, what a lot of women fail to realize, is that what they themselves have to offer has fallen sharply during the same time frame. Most men don't care all that much about how many fancy degrees you've got or how much you focus on your career. We want intelligent, driven women; but the actual degrees and careers don't matter as much. Women are also delaying getting into relationships and are overdrinking/eating junk food thus damaging the youth and beauty that matters to most men.

So you've got women wanting top tier men while they themselves are falling far below what the average woman of 50 years ago, had to offer. These same women panic and eventually settle for a man at their level when they hit their 30s but won't truly love their man because he isn't what they really wanted.

Its perfectly okay to have high standards but that then involves making certain sacrifices and ensuring that you meet the high standards of the other side. You cant be subpar yourself and yet want a top 1%er. What you consider high value isn't necessarily what the other gender considers high value as well. If you wish to appeal to the kind of high value mate you want, you need to cater to what such mates actually look for, not to your definition of high value.