How do I create my own path?

Social media tends to skew perception a bit on finance and the career paths available to you. While there are a lot of people who do the typical IB Internship -> IB analyst -> PE Associate route, this is by no means the only path. There are quite literally unlimited paths to take in your career, and none of them are the "right" path. Consultants go to PE/IB, Corp Dev out of undergrad go to IB/PE, IB go to PE/HF/Corp Dev/Consultants, and even FP&A goes to PE/IB/Corp Dev/Consultants. There is also a bunch of people that have left corporate finance all together and headed to RE or other fields after realizing they didn't want to stay in finance. 

 People become exceptional through good decision making, hard work, and luck. If you're in an investing role, the only way to be exceptional is to make the right investing decisions, work hard to make those decisions reality, and get a little bit lucky that everything falls your way. If you're in IB/consulting, the best way to be exceptional is to work hard and give the best advice you can to your client, with the luck happening that your advice happens exactly as you said it would. If you're a good advisor and people trust your opinions/you work hard for them, they will come back to you over and over again which will bring in tons of deal fees and bring you those promotions as you can prove your worth to your firm. The same way if your PE/HF/Corp Dev investments have massive returns you'll inevitably get promoted or poached and promoted. When you establish a track record of success and receive the promotions, the notoriety and label of "exceptional" will follow. How you decide to build your career relies solely on you.