In the original, the wise man gives Ash a potion and tells him to drink one drop for each century he wants to sleep. Ash seals himself up in a cave and, true to his genius, takes one drop too many of the potion. When he finally wakes up, he's one century too far into the future, and the world is a post-apocalyptic nightmare. It's a tough business, but there are no secrets. What matters, I have found, is hard work and persistance.
Patience is a big attribute out here in la-la land.
All those horror stories you hear are told by lazy people. It might not be, and that's all right.