writing to a friend, the following occurred to me:

do you know what i consider to be the source of the flesh-works?  it is this:
1. inner belief:  i am still separated from God. i am a sinner.
2. implied corollary:  i must get closer to God.
3. flesh-response:  i must get myself closer to God.
4. flesh-rule-for-judgement:  i am doing well if i am closer to God than other people.
5. flesh-judgement: i am doing better than these people, but not as well as these people.  return to #3.

do you know what i consider the solution?  it begins by changing #1 (above).
1. inner belief:  i am not separated from God. i am a saint.
2. implied corollary:  i cannot get closer or further away from God.  all Christians are equally close to God.
3. spiritual-response:  i can rest that God did the work; i trust in Him/His finished work.
4. spiritual-rule-for-judgement:  none; it is the Lord who judges me.  as Paul wrote, "i do not even judge myself."
5. spiritual-judgement:  so, i am not *feeling* as close as i would like OR i am *feeling* very close; either way, i just remember to keep my eyes on His finished work, what He says about me and rest in what He has already completed.  return to #1.

Takeaway
It helps to question your fundamental assumptions.
Application
Question your fundamental assumptions.