> every path you've been following your entire life has been laid out by someone else

Not really, no.

The actual realization is that other people in the past walked paths of which segments yours will share. A lot of stuff is just repetition upon repetition.

The way you phrase it however makes it sound like it's actually predetermined and that there is nothing new to discover, which couldn't be further from the truth, but probably helps as a coping mechanism for existing within the corporate world.