Tim Cook's Daily Routine
Own your first 2 hours before the meetings start. Tim Cook wakes before 5:00 AM for email and sales data, then trains for an hour.
By Colin PaceUpdated
Overview
Tim Cook succeeded Steve Jobs as Apple's CEO in 2011 and ran the company until September 2026, when he became its executive chairman. His day is front-loaded: he is up before 5:00 AM and has 2 hours done before the meetings begin.
The first hour goes to email and the latest sales data. The second is at the gym with a trainer. The rest of the day is operations meetings, with lunch at Caffè Macs, energy bars and a lot of coffee. 9to5Mac relayed the account from The Wall Street Journal in 2024, and the famous 3:45 AM wake-up is real but old: it dates from 2012 to 2014.
Anyone whose day gets swallowed by meetings can use the front of it, even an hour later. You start every day already informed and already trained, before anyone else gets a turn. He hasn't published a bedtime, so the sleep hours, the rest of the day's timing and the weekend are our estimates.
Goals
Who's it for
At a glance
- 7 hr sleep per night
- 80.5 hr work per week
- 2 meals per day
- 7 hr eating window
- 7 hr movement per week
Sleep
49 hours/week7 hr per night
- Every day9:30 PM → 4:30 AM· 7 hr
No naps.
Work
80.5 hours/week11 hr 30 min a day1 hr email10 hr 30 min meetings
- Email4:30 AM → 5:30 AM· 1 hr · Every day
- Meetings7:00 AM → 12:00 PM· 5 hr · Every day
- Meetings12:30 PM → 6:00 PM· 5 hr 30 min · Every day
Eat
7 hours/week2 meals17:7 eating window1 hr eating
- Lunch12:00 PM → 12:30 PM· 30 min · Every day
- Dinner6:30 PM → 7:00 PM· 30 min · Every day
Off
Move
7 hours/weekMove 5:30 AM
- Move5:30 AM → 6:30 AM· 1 hr · Every day