I tried this trick hundreds of times, it has never worked.

but this time it has nearly worked, really!

what does it mean "nearly worked"?

it means that I had time to play, time to read potop, time to do exercises i should do etc. but now it occured to me

i forgot sbout some important things

if you had forgotten about them they weren't important!

they weren't important for me, but for other people they were indeed.