Successful personal development will involve you in acquiring new knowledge and skills. This can be a daunting prospect when you're learning something completely new. Understanding the two different types of knowledge and how to use them will help you to accelerate your learning and develop the specific skills you need for success.

Napoleon Hill in his book "Think and Grow Rich" talks about two different types of knowledge - general and specific and the importance of specific knowledge for your successful. I'd like to take his idea and show you what both types of knowledge are and how they have their place in your personal development.

General knowledge

By general knowledge we mean not just the type of knowledge that will help you win a general knowledge quiz, usually a collection of random facts about all sorts of aspects of modern life! General knowledge also means knowledge that is high level and not specific enough to be translated into detailed action plans.

Ultimately, you will succeed by taking specific actions which will require specific knowledge, however there is a place for general knowledge in your personal development.

When you approach a new area of personal development, you know little or nothing about it. You may be tempted to rush in pick up some specific knowledge from any source you can find and start spending time, energy and money taking action.

Can you see the danger in this approach?

Yes, you are moving forward without a plan, a clear sense of direction or even knowing whether what you are doing is the best way to get you where you want to go.

This is where you need to acquire some general knowledge about the area you are interested in. Just enough to "get a feeling" for what really matters, how other people are being successful, what the latest tools are. Once you've done this you can select a specific course of action, put together a plan and TAKE ACTION!

The danger with general knowledge pointed out by Napoleon Hill is that you can end up collecting it for its own sake - this does not benefit you at all, you can end up wasting your time and energy and procrastinating. You need to learn through experience just how much general knowledge you need and learn just that much and not a bit more.

Specific knowledge

Specific knowledge is just what is says - specific facts and information that you can turn into actions. Specific knowledge is the most valuable sort of knowledge when you want to succeed in a certain area. Many areas of specific knowledge are not taught in any school or university - you have to learn them from your own or other's experiences.

However, without specific knowledge that you can use to take actions that will take you to your destination, you will not succeed. Having the best and most appropriate specific knowledge for the area in which you want to succeed is the most valuable asset you can own. To understand the importance of specific knowledge, you only have to look at the successful people who failed in the education system because they didn't get enough general knowledge.

The personal development tip from this article is that you need to understand the difference between general and specific knowledge and know you to use them as appropriate. By using a two tier approach to obtaining knowledge and understanding the importance of both general and specific knowledge you can maximise your chances of success through personal development.