The sentence “It almost never worked.” (line 40) refers to the fact that the author

tried to control his impulse of doing irrelevant errands before facing his commitments.

had to change his goals to concentrate only on the details of his daily tasks.

could never see the relevance of doing important work very early in the morning on weekdays.

believes that failure is critical to learning, so it is not essential to control oneself to do the right things.

thinks that the world conspires to make people deny their responsibilities and spend their time on leisure activities.