How does one find a life partner?

How DOES one find a life partner? And I’m deliberately not specifying the gender because I wanna open up the discussion. I’m not convinced the advice that a cisgendered straight male SHOULD receive different advice from, say, a transgendered bisexual female.

I kinda also want to leave sex out of it. Although, being a virgin, I feel maybe that is one avenue I should try to explore – that is, just to throw morals to the wind and DO it with someone, just so that I can say that I’ve done it, if only so that it doesn’t feel like some unattainable forbidden fruit that I may or may not be unconsciously trying to grasp at with PMO.

I have read some internet e-books like David Deangelo’s double your dating, and the like. The advice on cocky and funny and don’t be needy and think you need to buy her gifts every day definitely helped, but of course I’m still here.

And I haven’t neglected the need for self-improvement – that’s one of the reasons I’m on this website anyway. And I know trying to find “someone” shouldn’t be one of your life goals – it isn’t for me. But I guess it just frustrates me sometimes, because I think there’s something I’m missing.

How does one do it? Relatable and pleasant one-off conversations are all very well but how does that evolve into a relationship? Yes of course I know it’s about having these conversations several times over an extended period of time but when and how do people become couples? The very idea that there is someone who is able to accept you for all your faults and want to be with you for the rest of your life is completely mind-boggling to me.