A (physics) teacher education programme is typically focused on the development of requisite dispositions, knowledge, and skills needed for effective teaching. However, even if these are developed, the professional demands on a teacher's time are so great out of, and so complex during class time that if every decision requires multiple considerations and deliberations with oneself, the productive decisions might not materialise. I will argue that the link between intentional decision making and actual teaching practice are teachers' habits. I will provide a theoretical framework for the determinative role that habits of mind, habits of practice, and habits of maintenance can play in physics teacher formation and professional growth. The indispensable context for habits formation is apprenticeship in a community that shares a common vision for effective teaching. To illustrate the framework I have developed together with Eugenia Etkina (Rutgers University) and Stamatis Vokos (California Polytechnic State University), I will provide some concrete examples of the habits of physicists and habits of physics teachers that a pre-service teacher training programme should aim to develop in prospective physics teachers.