I actually think the problem with "praise for being smart" is the praise part, not the for being smart part. It's tricky, because praise is part of societally conventional interaction between parents and children, but I think it's worth remembering that what we're aiming for is their getting satisfaction out of an achievement or a job well done because it was a good thing to achieve/do for its own sake, not because an authority figure praised them. Therefore, I don't personally think praising effort is that much better than praising achievement - though sometimes checking that they understand the connection between the effort they put in and the result they achieved doesn't go amiss!
