many distributors offer a cross reference search.
For something as simple as a mosfet i would probably just go to digikey, head to the mosfet section and enter the parameters in the digikey search options from the datasheet of the part you have. Then compare datasheets for the results.
I think everyone probably has these thoughts at some point.
There are books/sites which recommend a bunch of "useful components" to have available. The only trouble is these things go out of date very quickly. For example the 741 and PIC16F84 are still being recommended in places even though they have both long (long long) since been surpassed.
If you know what is needed spec wise for your project (as you should do) then you can pick the components based on the specs. For example if you need 10MHz analogue bandwidth and you are using a 5V supply then you can filter opamp results accordingly. What speed does your uC need to run at 10MIPS? 40MIPS? what peripherals does it need? USB? SPI? CAN? Filter accordingly.
Parametric searches are your friend here (all the decent sites like Mouser, Farnell, Digikey, etc have them)
This applies to just about everything, so there's no quick way around reading through datasheets and making an informed decision (unless you already used the part of course)
So I would say the answer is probably to jump in head first and start learning how to use the search tools properly (look at any help available) picking your way through the components, read the datasheets, learn about what the specs/graphs/etc mean.
I certainly remember being overwhelmed by all the different options and long winded datasheets, but after a while your brain gets pretty good at filtering out the info you need quickly. Still takes time though, and is not the most enjoyable task.
Of course, if you're sure of the specs and you can get someone else to do it for you that's always a good option ;-)
Keeping up to date with new chips is useful too, I sign up for all the new product notifications for various places.
Best Answer
Switches and pushbuttons: failure to make contact.
What you've listed looks like the severity part of an FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis), at least at component level. While it's not impossible, it's a hell of a job to account for every possible component failure if your design has, say, over a hundred components. One failing component may cause an avalanche of other components failing. Most failures aren't subtle.
You'll experience that adding components to cope with other components failing only adds complexity; you'll have to do an FMEA for these components as well!
An alternative approach, FMEA-wise, may be to start from occurrences. What's the MTTF (Mean Time To Failure)? Most components are quite robust; tens of thousands of POH (power-on hours) are feasable. (A notable weaker component is the Al elco, but even there are solutions). Anyway, an IC usually doesn't short just like that. So, while component failure may be caused by aging, most failures are caused by external factors, like overvoltage on the grid, or user error like misconnecting. Try to reduce these risks. Power spikes may be handled by overvoltage protection diodes. Misconnection can be avoided by using different connectors so that they can't be switched. Color code wires and use matching colors on connectors.
Bottom line: it may be more important to know why components fail than how they do.