As Apple gets a new CEO in John Ternus, Tim Cook shares the 4 a.m. morning ritual he stuck by for 15 years in the top job

After a 15-year run as Apple ’s CEO, Tim Cook has handed the reins to longtime insider John Ternus .

It marks the end of an era for the world’s most valuable company, as Cook moves into the role of executive chairman.

And reflecting back on his time at the helm of the $4.75 trillion tech giant, Cook shares one daily leadership habit that pushed him to strive for success.

“For the past 15 years I’ve started just about every morning the same way,” Cook shared in a community letter speaking on his tenure as CEO.

“I open my email and I read notes I received the day before from Apple’s users all over the world.” Since 2011, Cook has led Apple through a global pandemic, supply-chain upheaval, and the rise of AI—and has read thousands of messages about the products all along the way.

Apple’s new executive chairman said customers would “share little pieces” of their world—from close calls caught by Apple watches, to capturing memories on their iPhones, to how their work has been changed since the dawn of the Mac computer.

Whether it be heartfelt stories or complaints about the products, Cook says he combed through the messages daily, and said it’s been an “honor and a privilege” to lead the company building transformative tech.

“In every one of those emails I feel the beating heart of our shared humanity.

I feel a sense of deepening obligation to work harder and push further,” Cook continued.

“But most of all, I feel a gratitude that I cannot put into words, that I somehow got to be the person on the other end of those emails.” Cook reads messages at 4 a.m. and reads hundreds of emails daily Before most people have woken up to start their workdays, Cook has already been reading customer comments online.

The former CEO gets up right before 4 a.m. every day, combs through hundreds of customer feedback to emails to get a sense of what users are experiencing.

“I rise a bit before four, I like to take the first hour and go through user comments and things like that, and sort of focus on the external people that are so important to us,” Cook told Axios in a 2018 interview.

Then after a one hour workout to manage his stress, Cook dives right back into what Apple buyers have to say.

He begins his 5 a.m. ritual of 15 years: reading “the majority of” the 700 to 800 emails that hit his inbox everyday.