Makoto Fujimura, the world-renowned painter, has often referred to the "500-year question" when it comes to creating art. What he's asking is this: What would it mean if serious artists--painters, writers, sculptors, architects and the like--created stuff with the view in mind that their work could last 500 years? Would it change the way they paint, write, sculpt, and design? 

Before you answer that, think back 500 years from right now, to the year 1510. What kind of stuff was being created around that time (give or take a few years)? I did a brief search, and here's what I came up with:

• Michaelangelo finished his masterpiece, David (1504)
• DaVinci completed the Mona Lisa after working on it for four years (1503-1507)
• Construction of St. Peter's Basillica in Rome began (1506)
• Michaelangelo finished painting the Sistine Chapel after four years of work (1508-1512)
• Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany (1517)
• William Tyndale finished his English New Testament translation (1526)

Clearly these masterpieces of art and literature were rare. For every Mona Lisa there have been millions of cheap paintings by hack artists. That's not the point. What we can learn from this little exercise is that there is art that endures, there are buildings that last, and there is writing that inspires century after century. The reason you recognize each one of the creations on that list is because they were done with the 500-year view in mind.

Since I'm a writer rather than a painter or an architect (although I pretended to be an architect once), my  focus needs to be on the words I use in my craft. I need to ask myself Makoto's 500-year question: Is it possible for me to write something that could last 500 years?

Of course, I'll never know, but that's not the point. Nobody knows the long-term effect of what they create. But this much I do know. If I take the 500-year view when I sit down to write something, I'm going to generate content that is much better than something I came up with in less than an hour (like this blog, for instance). I'm going to take more time with it, I'm going to work on it to make it better, and I'm not going to make it public until I'm satisfied that it's the best I can do.

Don't get me wrong. We can't take the 500-year approach with everything we create, or we'd never get anything done. We'd be frozen in our tracks, worried that we're producing a piece of junk rather than a masterpiece. Sometimes speed is of the essence. But my fear is that in the interest of speed and expediency, we have traded our ability to do things well with our need to get them done quickly.

What we have to face is that things done well take time and serious effort. When it comes to writing, that means I have to do the research and reading required to bring value to the work. I need to bring scholarship to my writing. In addition to scholarship, I need to bring excellence to my writing. In other words, I need to get good at my craft. I need to study the art of writing by reading other really good writers and, if it's possible, to take classes on how to write. And perhaps most important of all, I've got to get good at rewriting and polishing and honing the words I put on paper or input into my computer.

Even with scholarship and excellence, there's no guarantee my writing will last 500 days, let alone 500 years. But without those elements, I have no shot whatsoever at creating something that will be read years from now.

Whatever it is you do, every once in a while ask yourself the 500-year question: What would it look like if you created something with the view in mind that it could last 500 years? If you can answer that question, even if it's every once in a while, you'll be amazed at how much better you will get at your work.