(CNN) -- Neenah Pickett is on a mission to find love, and it's the kind that has a countdown and can be monitored by any curious voyeur.



No, she's not the newest bachelorette to feed America's reality TV addiction. The New Jersey media consultant is the brains and heart behind "52 weeks 2 find him!" a Web site dedicated to the search for her husband.



"This whole process has been me really realizing I need to find new ways to be proactive," said Pickett, 43, who might typically get roped into long hours at work or the embrace of a comfortable couch. "I'm past the stage of believing it'll just happen."



So she's putting it all out there on her site. She's blogging. She's asking friends and strangers to weigh in with advice. She's pushing herself to do things and act in ways she never has before.



And a little more than 14 weeks into the self-imposed challenge, she's pretty exhausted.



"I can't believe how hard it is," she said of the journey so far, which has brought her more dates in two months than she'd had in two years. "But that's why the deadline is so important."



Setting goals and working hard -- no doubt, it's the American way.



Singles scramble to avoid renewing online dating subscriptions. They sign up for "speed dating" events to feast on a smorgasbord of quick-and-easy first impressions. TV viewers beat up "The Bachelor" when he regrets selecting the mate he's chosen after a limited number of episodes. And how-to books that promise, within a set timeframe, discovery of the One, fly off bookshelves.



When it comes to matters of the heart, though, does finding love on a deadline make sense?



"It sounds good from a marketing standpoint, but life doesn't work like that," said Blaire Allison, "The Love Guru," who coaches people when it comes to matters of the heart.



She should know. About five years ago, when she was 27, Allison posted a site called "Marry Blaire," with the hope -- albeit somewhat in jest -- that she'd be engaged within six months. Like Pickett, she felt that setting aside time to focus on her personal life was necessary.



"It's OK to say, 'I want to be a partner in a law firm in three years' ... but we're taught to not be open about our desires about marriage, because we don't want to scare off the guy," she said. By being honest, "you end up attracting men who want the same thing as you."



A funny thing happened along the way, though. Allison found "my One," as she calls him, ended up living with the guy and felt essentially married. But she walked away when she realized that she hadn't taken time to know herself. She was young, caught up in the societal pressures and so worried about finding him that she'd never bothered to look within.



Through self-discovery, she fell "totally in love with myself," she said. "Now, I'm ready for a partner in my life again, but there's no rush; there's no urgency; there's no fear."



And nothing is more attractive than a woman who is happy with herself, said Sam van Rood, a "Love Doctor" based in London, England. He said that putting a deadline on the search for love sounds like "a risky approach" and that allowing time for self-evaluation is most important, no matter the gender.



To get where he is, personally and professionally, he had to examine and fix his own mindset when it came to love and romance.



"I used to see an ice queen, and I'd run and impale myself on her cold, bitter heart," said van Rood, 35, who's engaged to be married next year
Who set up the website? Who is she looking for? What is the woman searching for?
Neenah her husband. her husband.
question: Who set up the website?, answer: Neenah | question: Who is she looking for?, answer: her husband. | question: What is the woman searching for?, answer: her husband.