How to be a good player when you're slow

I'm a pretty slow player at my level (1500 1v1 on DE), I get outmicroed by most opponents, mess up my quick walls way too often, and don't even attempt boar steals anymore. I reached my current level by making good decisions and patrolling in my army (and some scout micro in feudal).

I now feel kinda stuck, where the speed difference with my opponents is really hurting me. When I lose a game, I always try to identify at least one wrong decision I made in order to improve.

Is anyone else in this situation? How can I deal with this and keep improving? I know there are vast speed differences among the pros (Daut is a meme at this point), so it should be possible.