Pick your subject. You can write about your first job, outings with friends or family, a defining achievement at school, a meal you once cooked or something that entirely embarrassed you. The arcane details of your experience may be filled with comedy or wisdom. Pick a subject and write about it in the first person.
Name the pretext for writing this particular essay at this specific time, and know how you want to approach the subject. Your angle could be based on the time of year, a news event or a triggered memory.
Determine your emotional attitude about your subject. The tone of your essay could be ironic, funny, wistful, sad or argumentative.
Tell a story. An effective way to write an essay is to enclose it in an anecdote. Write actual scenes. Set up the essay with the beginning of a story. When you reach a point of final insight at the end of the essay, you can conclude the piece with the outcome of the original story.
Provide universal insight. Your deeply personal story should become everyone's story and strike a chord with anyone reading it.