Ever hear or read the term "The Goldilocks Effect"? That is to say, when it comes to making choices, you have to choose the right opportunity to achieve the desired result.
Fairorchid provided a grower's perspective. See the comment regarding specimen size? From my perspective, I want to know both--what the plant will be if I did not divide it and what is the best example of what I can achieve that has award value. For me, the Goldilocks effect would be to grow a plant that satisfies my own needs and be worthy of a blue ribbon.
Here is a picture of my society's table display. All are beautiful plants. But if you can see, the blue ribbons were awarded to plants that were not too large, not too small, but somewhere in between--the Goldilocks effect.
The little red flower, a Besseae, the yellow Oncidium, and the red Miltoniopsis won the blue ribbons in this picture.
They were all medium in size--the Besseae had three fans.
