My preferred way to handle jet lag when traveling to Asia is to take an early morning flight ex-US (e.g. CX 841, ANA 1, etc.) departing at ~10-11:00am.

I will typically take a short nap in the afternoon before the flight and then drink a cup of coffee at around 8:00pm in the evening and start adjusting to Asia time. I'll then stay up all night and go to sleep shortly after takeoff -- which would be my normal bedtime at the destination. I've had almost zero jet lag using this method, although staying up all night before flight is not exactly pleasant. Of course, it helps that CX has by far the most comfortable bed in the sky. I stay very well-hydrated and avoid drinking too much alcohol (other than the pre-departure glass of champagne). And I've never had to use any sleep aids because I'm exhausted by the time we reach cruising altitude.

Ex-Asia is a different story. I always seem to get pretty bad jet lag regardless of the schedule.