ROCKLAND—The newly opened Gelato Rose gelato and coffee shop is introducing its first book signing and goal setting workshop on August 1 with author Zach Watson, who will read a few of his favorite ideas from his self-published book "Ideas Over Coffee."

Watson is an eighth grade math and science teacher in Lowell, MA. He runs a YouTube channel to teach his students about topics beyond the classroom and wrote "Ideas Over Coffee" as his own playbook for mindsets, perspectives and activities to look through and do when life throws hurdles. It has then been tailored to be a conversation starter for people as they meet up for coffee. He delivered a TED talk this year on the steps he takes when he wants to achieve his dreams.

The book itself is a conversation starter to overpower the small talk we experience everyday. There will be a fun and engaging conversation on some topics from the book, including the myth of the birthday wish, a discussion on bucket lists, and a conversation on relationships.

“The title came from a love for talking and sharing amazing conversations with people over coffee,” said Watson. “So, I hope that people will discover a want and need for authentic, vulnerable, profound conversations, or as one TED speaker said, ‘Big Talk’ rather than the mundane small talk.

“My goal with any audience is to inspire would-be authors to step out of their comfort zone and step into the confidence that comes from publishing a book,” he said. “The first thing I’ll talk about is that the writing and editing took around 250 hours, and there were errors when I first published it. I am still on the look out for them. In my TED talk, I said that one of the main pitfalls for anyone out there starting something big and new is perfectionism. The finished book is often more relevant than the perfect book sitting in a folder on your hard drive.”

The talk will start at 5:30 p.m. For the first 30 minutes, he’ll discuss concepts from the book. Around 6 p.m., Watson will be hosting a free goal setting workshop, which he has delivered at universities and local organizations. He will walk through a few exercises leaving the participants with a clear  path for some of their most exciting goals.

‘I love delivering goal-setting workshops and challenging people to think weirder concepts than they thought possible,” he said. “In the back of my book, I have several bucket/goals lists that I share for people to think about how they want to format and organize their aspirations for optimal inspiration and action.”

Books will available for sale. Watson will also be available to schedule workshops or coaching sessions for anyone interested. The talk is free to the public and the event takes place at 483 Main Street in Rockland.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com