Quarterly authority audit: for each trusted source, record domain, trust basis, scope, last verification, and delegation level

Why This Is a Rule

Every person accumulates cognitive authorities over time — sources, experts, institutions, and tools they trust to provide reliable input. But trust relationships drift: the expert whose judgment you relied on five years ago may have moved domains, the institution whose research you trusted may have changed methodology, and the tool whose output you accepted may have degraded. Without periodic audit, stale trust relationships persist indefinitely, steering your thinking based on authority credentials that may no longer be valid.

The structured format forces examination of each trust relationship across six dimensions: Source (who/what), Domain (where they have expertise), Trust basis (why you trust them — Trace why you trust each source: demonstrated expertise, emotional resonance, social proof, first-encounter, or algorithmic repetition?), Scope (the boundary of their expertise), Last verification (when you last checked their reliability), and Delegation level (how much authority you've given them — from "I consider their input" to "I follow their recommendations without independent evaluation").

Auditing one domain at a time prevents overwhelm — you might have 20+ trusted sources across health, finance, career, relationships, and technology. Quarterly cadence with one domain per quarter means each domain gets reviewed annually.

When This Fires

• Quarterly, rotating through one domain per quarter
• When a trusted source produces a recommendation that surprises you — check if the trust is still warranted
• When entering a new domain and establishing initial authority relationships
• After any event that changes the landscape of a domain (new research, paradigm shift, tool evolution)

Common Failure Mode

Never auditing: trusting the same sources indefinitely because "they've always been reliable." Reliability is not permanent — expertise shifts, incentives change, and domains evolve. The financial advisor who was excellent for your 20s portfolio may not be appropriate for your 40s situation. The audit catches these drifts.

The Protocol

(1) Each quarter, select one domain (health, finance, career, technology, etc.). (2) List all sources you trust for input in that domain: people, institutions, publications, tools, AI systems. (3) For each, record: Trust basis: demonstrated expertise? Emotional resonance? Social proof? (Trace why you trust each source: demonstrated expertise, emotional resonance, social proof, first-encounter, or algorithmic repetition?) Scope: what specifically are they expert in? Where does their expertise end? Last verification: when did you last check whether their guidance was reliable? Delegation level: consult (I consider their input), defer (I usually follow their recommendation), or abdicate (I accept without evaluating)? (4) For any source where trust basis is weak, scope has been exceeded, verification is stale, or delegation level is "abdicate" → investigate and recalibrate. (5) Rotate to the next domain next quarter.