I keep counting my prayers, charity and fasts and feel proud of the pile. Does a big heap of good deeds automatically make me a better person?

Keep the prayers, the charity and the fasts coming. Your question is about the counting, so let us look at where the weight of a deed actually sits.

When Allah speaks of rank among people, He does not measure it by the size of the pile. He measures something quieter.

“Indeed, the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is the most God-conscious of you.”

Qur’an, Al-Hujurat 49:13 · meaning

So the honour is not in the amount but in the taqwa that fills the deed. One coin given with the heart turned to Allah can outweigh a mountain of coins counted with the heart turned to oneself. And the value is settled by where His gaze falls.

“Indeed, Allah does not look at your bodies nor at your forms, but He looks at your hearts.”

The Prophet (peace be upon him), narrated by Abu Hurayrah, Sahih Muslim (2564b) · meaning

Here is the turn. When we begin to admire the pile itself, the heart shifts from resting in Allah to resting in the tally, and the counting starts to serve the self rather than the Lord. Those who study human behaviour describe something similar and call it moral licensing: keeping a running score of your good acts can quietly grant you permission to go slack elsewhere, so the ledger becomes a comfort instead of a spur. That is not a defect in you. It is a well-worn groove, and a person can step out of it.

The way forward is not to do less. Do as much as you can. Only change what your eyes are fixed on. Let the deeds go on, and look past the number to the One you did them for. When the heart forgets the pile and remembers Allah, the deed weighs nothing in your own reckoning and a great deal in His.

One small step: Tonight, instead of counting what you have done, name one deed, ask Allah to accept it, and then let it go from your memory, a gift given and forgotten.