The late, great management consultant and author Peter Drucker famously observed, "What gets measured gets managed." That message resonated in business circles, but it's at least as true—if not more so—in the arena of personal health and well-being.

I'll use myself as an example.

Entering this year at age 52, I'd established several health patterns that weren't setting up well for my future. I was coming off 6 straight years with a nagging foot injury that was sidelining me from running for several months each year. While I kept up a pretty intensive running schedule when my foot allowed it, at other times I frankly wasn't moving much. While I was working to strengthen my core muscles—something that's extremely valuable as we age—my diligence there had dropped off to, at best, 2 rather halfhearted sessions a week.