One of the only things I remember from an anthropology course in college is a documentary comparing elementary level education in China, Japan and the US. The name escapes me, so leave a comment if you know it.

In China, students were told to think of the good of the group and do as directed. In Japan, it was important to see a task through. An origami project might be ugly, but the fact that you finished was important.

American children were taught it was vital to make decisions for yourself and do what you wanted—but there was a catch. While students had free periods where they chose whatever activity they liked, they actually chose from a pre-defined subset.

Play with blocks or color with crayons? Or, as we adults might recognize, chicken or fish? Salad or fries?

The distinct ennui of working in America is this: we want to believe we are free to do whatever we like, but we mostly just choose from a defined menu of paths. Harvard or Yale? Design manager or creative director?

In some ways this is a safe path along the dangerous infinity of life. And to be fair, it probably follows in the well-worn footsteps of many other successful humans. But in a world where you can be killed in a freak hailstorm or fall into a mile-long sinkhole, this can be an overly reductive outlook.

It’s not always a blessing to know what’s ahead. If you’re always trying to move up in the hierarchy to compete with your peers, you might not see opportunities around you. Thirty years ago, no one dreamed that a person could sustain themselves by blogging or tweeting for companies. Check out this Zenhabits piece on careers:

Even young people who have a plan (be a doctor, lawyer, research scientist, singer) don’t really know what will happen. If they have any certainty at all, they’re a bit deluded. Life doesn’t go according to plan, and while a few people might do exactly what they set out to do, you never know if you’re one of those. Other things come along to change you, to change your opportunities, to change the world. The jobs of working at Google, Amazon or Twitter, for example, didn’t exist when I was a teen-ager. Neither did the job of Zen Habits blogger.

If you feel like you already know where everything is, you’re going to be a lot less likely to explore. Someone else has figured out your path for you, so you just have to keep your head down and plod along until it gets better.

Here’s the thing, though. You don’t have to go to college. You don’t have to work at a company. You don’t have to do anything. These social constructs certainly make life easier:

1. go to good school

2. work at good company

3. make enough to raise good children

4. slowly advance and make more money

5. retire in style

—but they don’t guarantee anything. Checking off boxes is just checking off boxes. You can do everything right and still end up poor, alone and unhappy. Just look at the crash of 2008.

Some people are perfectly happy at full-time jobs at big companies. They are lucky. The system works for them. But to any of you who are not, this is a friendly reminder that you have many options, and not just chicken or fish, fries or salad. You can find another way.