I don't see high productivity drive as a curse. If anything, I think most people don't work enough and have too much time for leisure as it is. Big life events like child births or anniversaries are statistically rare, and it's not HP that causes one to avoid them as much as time management and lack of priority. There are just as many deadbeats at the bar missing out on their kid's baseball game as hard working parents grinding away till midnight at the office. Maybe more so. 100 years ago 90% of people were working on farms 12+ hours a day. They didn't have the choice to be burned out, or they didn't survive. I'd say our lives are much easier now than then.
This reminds me of an article I wrote awhile back about the work habits of several bestselling writers. Danielle Steel, for example, writes like 20 hours a day and hardly eats, yet still had time to have nine kids, five husbands, and all while writing nearly 200 books.
