I'd like to say "It goes without saying..." but that's not it. While stopping your search is part of the answer it isn't the entire task.
The truth behind it is in being happy in being single. Not for the sake of being single but rather with yourself. The reason that this works is the same reason that guys are more often 'hit on' when they're in a good relationship than not is that the confidence and satisfaction of everyday life is far more attractive in subtle ways than is the guy in 'searching for love' mode.
This is the same reason that it's often recommended that when someone has just ended a long relationship, that they not start a new one for at least a year.
Loving yourself is important, but you must understand that you need to get to point of not needing anyone to fulfill that. When you're happy enough in living a single life, one that doesn't require another person to somehow 'complete' you, then you're much more likely to achieve two important states of being (as it were) that put you in a position of meeting someone who could be perfect for you.
1. Your lacking the need for someone in your life gives you confidence to enjoy your life on a day to day basis. There are no ties to hold you back. There are no limitations on what you need to be happy. There are no restraints on your expressing yourself honestly in your opinions, avocations, and activities. This makes you happy and more attractive to others (whether or not you're attracted to them.)
2. Once you are living your life in a genuinely fulfilling manner, you're less likely to settle for someone who has 'some' of the traits that you want, regardless of whether those traits are in the areas of looks, talent, resource, altruism, culture, etc. You will be a in a far better position to turn down someone with some dazzling feature that you're particularly attracted to and more clearly see the deficits that would cause problems in the future (whether near or far.) You will also more clearly see which of your personal requirements for the 'perfect man' are superficial or even counterproductive.
When you get to that point, the problem you will face is not whether the 'right man' is out there, but rather 'which one do I choose.' If you are truly happy within yourself, the choice will be easy and you'll have little difficulty in the choice. If there is difficulty, then the likelihood is that neither is right.
I always liked the expression, "I want to become the man my dog thinks I am." Unfortunately, it doesn't tell me how. That's the part I had to figure out for myself. That happened by both looking at what I did wrong, and also in the observation of others who had relationships to which I aspired.