Flying is all about managing risks. Obviously there is a risk that the engine in a single engine aircraft could suddenly stop, but there are also many other risks during a typical flight. The secret is of course to reduce the risks as far as practicable. To do this one must first understand both the probability of an adverse occurance and its consequence. IMO ab initio flight training does not do a very good job in this area. It assigns a far higher probability to the engine failure scenario than is warrented , but more critically allmost all the training has to do with actions after the engine failures. If you examine the actual engine failure statistics you will find that over 80% of the light aircraft engine failures were directly caused by the actions or inactions of the pilot.
The least likely event is having a engine which had a normal run up
is showing normal engines guage indications, has sufficent uncontaminated fuel supply from a a properly selected tank, and is not showing signs of carb ice ...... just suddenly stop. Or even more simply if you want to greatly reduced the risk of engine failure do a few sinple things on every flight
Before flying
1) make sure there is no water in the fuel
2) do not take off if the runup is abnormal
and, In flight
1) plan every flight with at least an hour of fuel in reserve using book fuel flows plus 10 %
2) monitor your engine instruments regularly thoughout the flight and be especially vigilent for the signs that carb ice is forming.
If you do these things and are flying one of the simpler trainers or tourers the chance you will experience an engine failure in your PPL flying lifetime is effectively zero.
If you are going to have a non fatal accident it will most likely be a loss of control on takeoff or landing caused by skills fade, and if you are going to have a fatal accident it will probably be due to flying in poor weather.
So looking at it from a purely statistical approach it would seem the best way to reduce the risk of you having an accident is to regularly practice takeoff and landings to maintain your aircraft control skills and not to push the weather. While you do not want to ignore the possibility of an engine failure especially the most dangerous scenario, an engine failure right after takeoff, you also IMO should not ascribe more importance to this particualar emergency than it warrents.