Apple CEO Tim Cook details his 4 a.m. morning routine

Tim Cook is tasked with running one of the biggest companies in the world, and people often wonder how exactly he does it. In a new interview with The Wall Street Journal, Cook detailed his morning routine and what he does to keep his “hand on the pulse of the company.”

Tim Cook’s daily routine

Cook says that the first thing he does when he wakes up is check his iPhone, which sits atop is nightstand in silent mode. His typical wakeup time is before 5 a.m. everyday, leading to closing his Apple Watch stand ring impressively early everyday.

He does a cursory glance at his emails on his iPhone before quickly going to his Mac. His focus in the morning is on reading emails and reviewing “overnight sales reports” to learn more about trends and results from Apple around the world for the first hour of everyday.

According to Cook, reading those emails every morning is one of the best ways to gauge feedback from his team and customers:

“I get up very early and I quickly go to the Mac and begin to go through the emails that have come in for the last several hours. A lot of what I’m reading are from customers that are telling me how they’re using our products and what it’s doing for them.

So I get notes both that are positive and some that are not so positive because people feel free to reach out and voice their opinion. And I think this is great because it keeps my hand on the pulse of the company.

I have relatively thick skin and so I try to internalize it and ask myself, ‘Well, is that accurate or not?,’ and not just quickly put up a defensive shield and say why what we’ve done is right.

Then, Cook hits the gym and starts closing his Apple Watch rings. When he gets to the office, Cook dives into work and uses “every product” to get it all done:

During his workout, which he records on his Apple Watch, classic rock pounds through his AirPods. At the office, he switches to his MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and iMac. On the road, he travels with his iPad Pro. “Every day,” he says, “every product.” 

Cook also said that Apple Intelligence is already playing a role in his daily routine, helping him digest longer emails.

Until recently, Cook read long emails. Now he relies on Apple Intelligence summaries. “If I can save time here and there,” he says, “it adds up to something significant across a day, a week, a month.” Even before Apple Intelligence was released, it changed his productivity and daily habits. “It’s changed my life,” he says. “It really has.” 

Wrap up

This isn’t the first time Cook has detailed his morning routine. Throughout his years as Apple CEO, Cook has repeatedly emphasized the enjoyment he gets out of waking up early and reading emails before closing his Apple Watch rings.

Could you mirror Tim Cook’s daily routine? Give it a shot and let us know how it goes down in the comments.