If there's one thing that many of the world's wealthiest have in common, it's a shared belief in the latter half of the old adage "early to bed, early to rise."
According to a 2025 Inc. 5000 CEO survey, a whopping 99% of the profiled millionaires were up by 8 o'clock in the morning — a more recent story which corroborates a previous CNBC piece suggesting every self-made billionaire interviewed attributed an early rise as key to their successes.
While CNBC contributor Rafael Badziag waxed a bit poetic about the primal energy connected to the emergence of the sun over the horizon as dawn breaks, more concrete elements were also summoned to the fore.
"You have more time to think in silence, work undisturbed and mentally prepare for the day," Badziag wrote, drawing upon the commentary provided by his interviewees. "There's also something wonderful about knowing you're getting a head start while others are still asleep."
Virgin Group founder and modern renaissance man Richard Branson is known to be a strong proponent of getting up during what some might term the wee hours of the morning, stating as much in a 2017 company blog.
With the sunlight naturally waking him at around 5 a.m., the author and businessman described natural light as "wonderfully motivating," giving him the energy he needs to kick off the day with a bit of exercise, and at that time, a shared cup of tea with his late wife, Joan.
With a current estimated net worth of $2.8 billion, according to Forbes, it seems that getting up and active has worked for Branson throughout the years.
As outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook relinquishes the reins to his replacement, company stalwart John Ternus, he shows consistency in all things — including his famous morning routine.
Cook rises even earlier than Branson, at about 3:45 a.m. each and every morning (per Time), before getting to work by checking his email, reading comments from Apple users and — like Branson — squeezing in some valuable exercise in order to better manage stress. As he exits his post, he holds a net worth of about $3 billion, according to Forbes.
During his 15-year stint as Apple's chief exec, rather than delegating his jammed inbox to someone lower on the org chat, Cook described the importance of keeping one hand on the wheel.
"It keeps my hands on the pulse of what customers are feeling and thinking and doing," he said, according to Fortune.
Other billionaires known to be in the habit of getting out of bed sooner rather than later include:
- Mark Cuban (entrepreneur and "Shark Tank" star): Cuban is a bit of a fan of staying in bed, even though he wakes up in the vicinity of 6:30 a.m. to 7 a.m., per Entrepreneur. Dealing with emails for an hour or so, then "chilling" before grabbing a bite to eat and working out, Cuban likes to take a leisurely approach to the first business dealings of the day.
- Oprah Winfrey (talk show host): Per Harper's Bazaar, Winfrey typically wakes up around 7:10 a.m and loves to go for a walk shortly after.
- Mark Zuckerberg (founder and CEO of Facebook/Meta): By far the wealthiest billionaire on this list, Zuckerberg claims to rise at 7 a.m. or 7:30 a.m., Inc. noted. After that, it's time to hit the mat for a bit of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts — which he spends a couple hours doing before getting serious about work.
