Д288
ПРОТОРЁННАЯ ДОРОЖКАИЗБИТАЯ ДОРОГА (ДОРОЖКА) all
coll,
occas. ironNPfixed WO the usual, familiar, conventional way
the beaten track (path)
the well-worn pathtried-and-true methods
не идти по проторённой дорожке - stay off the beaten track (path). Cf. take the road less traveled (from Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken," 1915).