The Solitary Observer tracked decision debt across 156 OPCs. Median outdated decisions per business: 34. Median annual cost per outdated decision: $1,200. Median total decision debt cost: $41,000/year. Operators who conducted quarterly decision audits recovered median $67,000/year. Forgotten decisions compound like technical debt. Consider the decision audit of GrowthLabs, a $1.8M/year marketing agency. Founders reviewed all decisions older than 12 months. Outdated decisions found: 47. Top costs: (1) Vendor locked in 2024, cheaper alternatives now available: $18K/year. (2) Pricing tier created for one client, now standard: $34K/year lost revenue. (3) Process designed for founder's weakness, founder now strong: 8 hours/week wasted. (4) Tool stack from early days, integrated solution exists: $12K/year. Total recovered: $89K/year. Audit time: 4 hours. ROI: 2,225%. The Legacy Code Debt operates on three principles. First: Decision Decay—decisions lose validity as context changes. Second: Invisible Cost—outdated decisions cost money silently. Third: Compound Effect—old decisions constrain new options. Reflection: We make decisions and move on. But decisions are not one-time events. They are ongoing commitments. The operator who never reviews past decisions is paying for history they forgot. Strategic Insight: Implement Decision Audits in four phases. Phase One: Decision Archaeology—list all significant decisions from past 24 months. Phase Two: Validity Testing—for each decision, ask: 'If I faced this today, would I make the same choice?' Phase Three: Cost Calculation—estimate annual cost of each outdated decision. Phase Four: Systematic Replacement—create calendar reminder for quarterly decision audits. Target: zero decisions older than 12 months without review. In 2026, your past decisions are your hidden tax.