Sounds like your problem could be that you'll notice the tactic if you know there's one there, but may have more trouble seeing them otherwise.
The old "once you find a good move, stop and look for a better one" advice might help you here if you put it into good practice.
Or treating every position first as if it were given to you in the tactics trainer, and then if you can't find anything, going with a move that increases your piece activity and development to give you good setups for future tactics.
Also, be sure to learn opening systems that concentrate on gaining the initiative. This helped me a lot at one point.
My current rating is 1872 inTT but my standard rating is around 1300. What would you suggest to have t flow into my own gameplay.