Work-family research has traditionally focused on people’s goals and performance within these two domains and their intersection. However, this narrow lens tends to overlook the reality and complexity that individuals generally participate in a number of other life domains, each with its own valued goals. Therefore, individuals’ work-family management likely depends on how these other goals are related to (i.e. constrain or facilitate) their work and family goals. To address this oversight, in this Voices piece, we introduce work-family scholars to the multiple-goal system perspective. Specifically, we clarify how contextualizing work and family’s positions within individuals’ broader goal system – and moving beyond a dual-goal approach – has the potential for myriad benefits in studying the work-family interface.