Suggestions from someone who is set on improving but hates to dwell on the past and has trouble reading logs:
1. Read up on the general side. Browse ds.com and the wiki. Get intimately familiar with deck types, combos, counters, etc. so you can know what you're getting into with each game as quickly and easily as possible.
2. Play unrated. There's nothing wrong with protecting your rating/level by going into practice mode. You can experiment and get experience with particular cards, combos, or overall strategies without your mistakes making a dent in your "reputation".
3. If your opponent lets you, overanalyze. Adam Horton's method of pinpointing all the basic card types works really well, and I like to supplement that with what I call the "theatre student method": goal, tactics, obstacles (as specific as possible).
4. Stream! There's nothing that makes me as critical of my own play as knowing that someone's watching and judging me. If you can get active people in your stream chat, you'll be getting advice and critique of your play IN REAL TIME! It's much faster than having to post in the help subforum and explain everything after the fact, and even your rating won't suffer as much because you'll be able to apply new suggestions as soon as you learn them. Of course, this only works if you're comfortable streaming in the first place, but it's still worth mentioning.