Humility Holds Every Good Trait
The heart of serving Hashem is humility, which gathers all good middos, while pride empties even great learning.
The essence of serving Hashem, the Bas Ayin says, is submission and humility. A person should keep reflecting on Hashem's greatness, which fills and surrounds every world, on how small he himself is, and on how many of his deeds are not for Hashem alone but also for his own pleasure. Even while learning or davening with great fire, he should look with an open eye and search the cracks for any mixture. One who has this humility holds all good traits within it. But if a person is proud, then even with every good trait and constant learning it counts for nothing, since the Shechinah cannot rest there. This is why Avraham is said to have come in his days, for the word for days adds up to one hundred, which our Sages link to the word what, and so Hashem blessed him with everything.
Source: Bas Ayin, Chayei Sara 9–11 (on Bereishis 24:1)
Pick one thing you do for Hashem this week, a shiur, a bracha or a favor for a neighbor, and look honestly at your motives. Is part of it for approval, comfort or pride? You do not need to stop. Just notice it, smile, and quietly ask Hashem to purify your intention. Then try the next one a little more quietly, with no one watching. Humility is not thinking little of yourself. It is making room for Hashem to be the One who matters.