Everyone should get fired at least once to experience what happens and to get comfortable with it to diminish fear.

Getting fired keeps a job in perspective. A job is a temporary vessel, nothing to depend upon or expect longevity from. It might implode suddenly or gradually erode into instability. The best way to expect this is to experience it and then remember.

I’ve seen companies gradually self-destruct, evaporate as bubbles pop, merge and cut out redundant executives and directors. Numerous consulting adventures quietly faded away in soft mutual firings after it became clear there was no profit available in the venture, no matter how much more work invested in the project.

Seeing others flail from dependence on a job no longer extant was sad. Everyone knows to keep at least 6 months of living expenses saved as cash, but most people live in debt and need every paycheck for immediate bills. When a job goes away, they will be underwater until they get the next job, which in the case of upper level managers might be many months, especially when a popped bubble simultaneously floods the local area with expensive and well-qualified managers desperate for steady income.

Your job will vanish, and you need to be nimble enough to not only identify a failing situation before it grows too rotten, but to also successfully jump to a more prosperous possibility, avoiding comfortable complacency and stagnation in a job that never lasts forever.

Be thankful when you are fired, for it is a good lesson to carry with you. Employers are no safety net, but soft and oafish exploiters from which you will need to separate whenever the relationship becomes suboptimal.