Watch the video above as I guide you through this exercise.

Instructions: Make a list of 21 details from your life, interesting facts that describe some small, random part of who you are.

Here are mine:

I’m the oldest of five siblings.
My close friends refer to me as the “Snack King.”
I usually listen to down-tempo electronic music when I work.
I consider myself a Third Culture Kid.
I speak fluent Spanish because I raised in Spain, Ecuador, Colombia. I also attended 13 schools growing up.
My guilty pleasure is Pop Chips.
I spent a lot of time thinking about money in high school and college, mostly because my family didn’t have much.
My first job was working at McDonald’s. I started the day after I turned 15 and made $4.20 an hour. After taxes, it was less than $3.50 an hour. I mostly used it to rent movies.
I thought I wanted to be a screenwriter, but realized I was much more fulfilled by teaching.
I love doing silly voices and can do lots of different accents.
I love Pixar films and often cry when I watch them.
When my brothers and I hang out we mostly like to play board games and eat good, cheap food. My youngest brother, Nick, is a vegan and inspired me to become (mostly) vegetarian.
I lived in New York City for a while, but found it kinda’ stressful. I prefer a slower pace of life, I think.
I love poetry and my favorite poet is Rumi.
I’ve been to Burning Man 13 or 14 times (I’ve lost count).
I sometimes struggle with work/life balance. I wonder if this will always be the case.
I learned to do math in my head by playing Monopoly.
Sometimes at night I watch YouTube videos on chess. I used to procrastinate in college on writing papers by playing Yahoo Chess.
One place I’m at home is on the basketball court. I could shoot free throws for hours—and I’m pretty good at teaching people how to shoot them.
I think I have a bit of misophonia (which is when certain sounds really really bug you, like people chewing too loudly or when people scratch certain materials).
I usually wear blue collared shirts or a black t-shirt these days. Mostly because I don’t want to think too much about what I wear each day.

Note: I originally wrote a few more, but trimmed them to these 21 so you wouldn’t be confused.

See how each is a little tiny glimpse into my world? It’s impossible to capture all of who you are in 25 or even 500 words, but with a few, carefully chosen details, a portrait begins to emerge. Think of these 21 details as a collage.

Once you've written your 21 details, look for themes. Is there anything that comes up again and again? That may be a good theme for your essay.