Марія Бровінська Історії 25 January 2025, 09:55

Rising before dawn, an hour of exercise, and long meetings with energy bars. What Apple CEO Tim Cook's workday looks like

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s workday starts before 5 a.m. — the time he can «control the most.» What’s the Apple CEO’s workday like?

Attentive to feedback

In an episode of the podcast «Table Etiquette with Jesse and Lenny Weir,» released in January 2025, he added that the morning is «the part of the day I can control the most.»

«As the day begins to unfold, it becomes less predictable,» says Cook. «So I love that part of the day when I can shut myself off from the world, focus on a few important things, and just be quiet for a while.»

The first thing Cook does in the morning is check his iPhone, where «he reads email, looks at nightly sales reports and studies countries where the numbers are changing to keep his finger on the pulse of the business,» The Wall Street Journal reported in 2024.

«I spend my first hour reading my email, and I’m pretty religious about it,» he said on Dua Lipa’s podcast. «I read a lot of emails from customers and employees, and customers tell me things they like about us or things they’d like to change about us. Employees give me ideas. But it’s a way to stay in touch with what the community is feeling, and I love that.»

On the «Table Manners» podcast, Cook said he receives «maybe 500-600» emails a day, although that number can be much higher on «days when something extraordinary is happening.»

«I get both positive and negative feedback because people are not shy about expressing their opinions, and I think that’s great because I have my finger on the pulse of the company,» Cook told the WSJ in 2024. «I try to internalize that and ask myself if this is right or not, rather than just quickly putting up a protective shield and saying, ‘Why? What we did was right.’»

Employees also felt the impact of Cook’s morning emails.

«Tim wakes up very early and may well expect you to respond to him before sunrise,» one source told Business Insider in 2014.

Sports enthusiast

Before heading to the office, Apple CEO Tim Cook hits the gym several days a week. He considers himself a fitness giant.
«I spend an hour in the gym, usually doing strength training, and I have someone who really pushes me to do things I don’t want to do,» he told Dua Lipa in an interview. «I don’t work at all during that time, I never check my phone, I’m completely focused on training.»

In 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported that Cook doesn’t work out on the Apple campus, instead opting for a gym where he’s less likely to run into his employees.

In 2018, Cook told Axios that exercising helps «keep stress at bay.»

Coffee lover

After his workout and shower, Cook drinks coffee. He loves his morning coffee. In 2024, Cook told the magazine that he drinks «many cups» of coffee a day.

He usually drinks «protein» cereals — with unsweetened almond milk, he said on the «Table Manners» podcast.

Marathon runner

Cook holds marathon meetings after work. He is known for relentlessly questioning employees in meetings that can last for hours. A 2014 article reported that Cook’s weekly operations meetings can last five or six hours.

«'Talk about your numbers. Show me your spreadsheets,' he would say, sipping a Mountain Dew,» the magazine wrote.

Cook has since said he’s a big fan of the diet soft drink Mountain Dew, even though it’s not available on the Apple campus.

Mike Janes, a former head of Apple’s online store, told CNN Money in 2008 about an afternoon meeting with Cook.

«Some of us had tickets to the Mets game that night. After work, he continued to bombard us with questions, and we looked at our watches like kids in school. I can still see Tim saying, ‘Okay, next page,’ as he opened another energy bar. Do I have to say we missed the Mets game?»

Lover of breaks and energy bars

He also has no problem sitting in silence until he gets a suitable answer.

«In meetings, he is known for long, awkward pauses, when all you hear is the sound of him tearing open the wrapper of the energy bars he constantly eats,» CNN Money reports.

As a result, the publication notes, employees have learned to be prepared for meetings, preparing for them like exams.

In addition to the energy bars he snacked on throughout the day, he likes chicken and rice for lunch. Cook is known to eat lunch in the cafeteria with his employees, unlike his predecessor Steve Jobs, who usually ate with then-head of design Jony Ive. «I eat lunch at Caffè Macs and take dinner home from there during the week,» he said on the «Table Manners» podcast. «I usually choose fish.»

Team player

«I split the day into time spent with the product teams, time spent with the marketing teams, time spent with the executive team, and we either address current issues or hopefully our balance is more focused on working on future things and thinking about what’s next,» he said on Dua Lipa’s podcast.

When he was the COO, he was known for being one of the first to arrive at the office and one of the last to leave.

Time outside of work

Cook’s life outside of work is more of a mystery. We don’t know much about how Cook spends his weekends and evenings, although he says he enjoys hiking, rock climbing, and cycling.

On vacation, he usually goes to national parks, which he talked about on the «Table Manners» podcast.

He also vacationed at the Canyon Ranch resort in Arizona, where guests noticed he was reclusive, often dining alone and reading on his iPad, according to a biography of Cook published by Fortune magazine in 2012.

Most recently, in the summer of 2024, he was caving in Slovenia.

He also talked about using the Vision Pro at home while watching «Ted Lasso» and other TV shows while stretched out on the couch.

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