Put Down Your Smartphone and Go for a Walk: Tim Cook’s Healthy Lifestyle Tips
An ardent fan of fitness and a lover of nature - this is how Apple CEO Tim Cook characterizes himself. Even on business trips, he follows a tough daily routine: getting up at 3:45, an hour-long workout and back to work. Restrictions keep him productive, Cook says
“They say that if you do what you love, then you will never have to work a day in your life. At Apple, I learned that this is complete nonsense", Tim Cook once said. In his opinion, when a person finds a job that truly fascinates him, he “works to the limit of his abilities, performs more than he seemed capable of doing, and he succeeds.” And this is not an abstract statement. Cook literally “lives” in the office: he arrives earlier than others, and leaves last. “I made Apple my life’s work and I will continue to spend every waking hour trying to be the best CEO I can be,” Tim Cook wrote in a Bloomberg column. Such diligence is bearing fruit: in January 2022, Apple’s capitalization was the first among other companies to reach $3 trillion.
To withstand a busy schedule and not go crazy, the Apple CEO is helped by a strict daily routine, which he has strictly followed for many years. Thanks to him, even after long flights he feels energetic. He can go to Asia, spend three days there, return to the US at 7:00 in the morning, and at half past eight come to the office and ask one of his subordinates about some data.
A Day in the Life of an Apple CEO
Every morning, Tim Cook wakes up at 3:45, except for those days when a responsible presentation is waiting for him: in such cases, he allows himself to sleep until 4:30. Why so early? “I do this because I can control the morning better than the evening or afternoon. There are a lot of things that happen during the day that can knock you out of the rhythm", Cook shared in an interview with The Australian Financial Review. - The morning [is completely] yours. I would even say that the early morning belongs to you.”
At 4:00 am, Apple’s CEO is already at his desk sorting through email. He answers letters from colleagues, and also reads user messages and reviews about the company’s products. In total, Cook, according to him, receives 700-800 such emails a day. “I can’t see them all. But I read a lot of them. Thanks to this, I understand what customers feel, think and do, focusing on the external audience, which is so important to us,” explained Tim Cook.
A top manager spends an hour on mail, then goes to the gym. Training for Cook is like a religion: he tries not to miss a single day. Fitness helps him cope with stress. “At this hour, I completely pass out. I don’t read emails or write messages when I’m studying. [Sports] is a way to get rid of everything that can be distracting", said the CEO of Apple in an interview with InStyle.
At 6:00 sharp Tim Cook is in the office, at 9:30 he is back in bed. His ideal evening is very quiet, no parties. Sometimes he watches Apple TV+ and has sashimi for dinner, which he admits is his favorite dish. And the next morning we get up again at 3:45.
What kind of SEO - such a company
Tim Koum describes himself as a “fitness freak, sports fanatic and nature lover.” Although he doesn’t talk much about his personal life, in interviews he often talks about his passion for hiking. “Walking has always been the best way for me to unload my head and look at what is happening from new angles,” Cook admitted on Twitter.
“Hiking is my meditation. When I [find myself] in nature, I feel like a grain of sand in the universe, and everyday problems seem insignificant,” Apple CEO shared on the Outside Podcast. Tim Cook’s favorite national parks are Yosemite in California and Zion in Utah. As soon as he feels the first symptoms of burnout: it is difficult for him to take his head off the pillow or everything is annoying, he goes to nature. Typically, Cook walks more than 20,000 steps, but he says he doesn’t get that opportunity often, so he makes up for the lack of movement during business meetings or outings.
At Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, which is called Apple Park, this is not difficult to do: its territory is 80% planted with trees and looks more like a forest than an office campus. Apple Park is designed to keep employees moving as much as possible: the huge office has only one cafeteria where everyone comes to dine, and the toilets are located away from the rest areas. In addition, standing desks have been installed to combat sedentary lifestyles, which Cook calls “the new cancer.”
Tim Cook also enjoys rock climbing and cycling. For example, he participated at least once in a charity two-day bike race in the state of Georgia to raise funds for the treatment and research of multiple sclerosis. He has supported this initiative ever since he was misdiagnosed. Cook regularly watches cycling broadcasts, and even his short haircut repeats the one chosen by his idol, road cyclist Lance Armstrong.
Tim Cook’s approach to health has a direct bearing on Apple’s business strategy. It was under him that the company began to produce “smart” watches Apple Watch, capable of tracking heart rate and heart rate. Cook himself regularly uses them during training: “I can always convince myself that I am doing more than I really am. And this (Apple Watch data. ) is a motivator for me. The CEO of Apple even admitted that thanks to the watch he lost 30 pounds (about 14 kg). In interviews, a top manager often tells stories about how the Apple Watch saved someone’s life, although, according to Mayo Clinic research, only 11.4% of those who go to the doctor after receiving a notification from the smartwatch have significant health problems.
In addition to the Apple Watch, the tech giant has also launched Fitness+ with personalized workouts and meditations. “I wish I could look back and say that the most important contribution we [as a company] have made to human progress has been health,” Tim Cook said in an interview with the Outside Podcast.
Fight for attention
Apple CEO believes that mental health problems today can occur in anyone. “You know, I don’t have an “S” on my chest, and I don’t have a raincoat fluttering behind my back. I understand that in many ways I have certain privileges, but none of us have been so fortunate that mental health has ceased to be a key component of life", he shared in an interview with Bustle.
Of course, one way to regain awareness and attention is through sports and walking in the fresh air. But they will have no effect if you are constantly distracted by notifications or taking endless selfies, Tim Cook is sure. That is why the Screen Time feature appeared in iPhones, which helps to control how long the owner of the device uses it. According to Cook, he was very surprised when he saw his own statistics. “I [then] thought: “Do I really need to receive thousands of notifications a day?” It doesn’t add value to my life or make me a better person,” Apple CEO says.
Although Tim Cook hasn’t disclosed how often he uses his smartphone, he says that after the introduction of Screen Time, he manages to be distracted by it less often. “The number of notifications on my iPhone is declining, the number of times I pick up the device is also declining. And all thanks to a new feature that helped me find out exactly what I was doing", Cook said.
According to him, some applications teach users to mindlessly scroll through the update feed and look at the screen every second to see if anything has changed there. And this, according to the head of Apple, is devastating to humans. He concludes: “Every time you pick up your phone, you take your eyes off the people you are with. And if you look into your smartphone more than into the eyes of living people, then you are definitely doing something wrong.”
Source: CNBC, подкаст Outside Podcast, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Time, The Australian Financial Review, InStyle, Bustle, TechCrunch, The David Rubenstein Show.