In spiritual diseases (muhlekat e nafs) the rule of thumb is;

If one considers him/herself to be free from a specific disease, e.g. arrogance (kibr), hasad (envy) etc. it is for sure that he/she is afflicted with it.

That might be the reason that many of the noble companions ridhwanullah ta’ala ajmaeen considered themselves to be hypocrite (munafiq) and most of the pious (awliya) consider themselves to be worse than unbelievers (kafir-e-farang).